


hunters and hybrids

by orphan_account



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Flashbacks, Jschlatt Needs a Hug, Mentions of Stabbing, NO SHIPPING THATS DISGUSTING DONT SHIP REAL PEOPLE, Original Character - Freeform, PTSD, This is a really weird AU, Tommyinnit needs a hug, Wilbur Soot Needs a Hug, alternative universe, even technoblade needs a hug, goddamnit everyone needs a hug, hunters and hybrids, i don’t understand how tags work, idk how ao3 works this is my first time posting something, it’s also all over the place and starting in the middle so just deal with it, ive got a lot of ideas and little time, mentions of torture, mentions of violence and torture, no beta or proofreading we die like block men, philza is a good dad, possible trigger warnings, reminder that this is all roleplay and these are my interpretations on the characters, sorry - Freeform, this entire thing is in lowercase bc that’s how i type, tubbo rambles about bees for half a second, wilbur and techno are phil’s adopted sons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27278941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: DISCONTINUED // due to lack of motivation :( i’m leaving this up for anyone who would like to read it, but it’s been left on quite the cliffhanger. sorry about that.no one is safe in the world of the hunters.those who are hybrids, combinations of human and animal, are most at risk.those who are human just barely get by.those who are a bit out of the realm of possibility? they protect those who can’t protect themselves.schlatt is a hybrid, barely escaping from the confines of the hunters. he meets wilbur, a human who lost his family. they became friends, brothers, inseparable.they even find two boys that have happened to lose their way. everything is fine.until wilbur gets stabbed by a hunter and almost doesn’t make it.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Jschlatt (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Wilbur Soot, Jschlatt & TommyInnit, Jschlatt & Wilbur Soot, Tommyinnit & Tubbo, jschlatt & technoblade, jschlatt & tubbo, philza & technoblade
Comments: 64
Kudos: 338





	1. a ram, a sleeping boy, and an angel

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first work i’ve ever posted on ao3 or anywhere for that matter. i wrote this all in 3 hours with little to no proofreading. i’ve got a lot of thoughts and they’re all about stupid block men. 
> 
> just a bit of clarification-  
> schlatt - human/ram hybrid  
> wilbur- human  
> phil- archangel  
> tommy- human  
> tubbo- human(?)  
> technoblade- human/pig hybrid
> 
> enjoy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wilbur hasn’t woken up after being stabbed by a hunter. schlatt finds someone who may be able to help.

phil stared at his younger son.  
the son he lost so long ago.  
the son that could be back in his arms if he could heal him.  
but he had to figure out what was wrong with wilbur first.  
schlatt ran a hand through his hair, sighing. “he’s been like this for 3 and a half weeks. i’ve been searching for an answer, a potion, anything that could fix him. but then i ran into techno.” the ram hybrid looked at phils older son, who stood in the corner with his arms crossed.  
“you’re lucky you found me when you did,” techno said, “or things could be a lot worse for you.”  
phil dismissed his sons weary words as typical techno banter. after losing wilbur, he took his older son under his wing, literally, and taught him how to really fight hunters. the pig hybrid may not have wings, but he could soar in battle.  
the archangel rested a hand on his sons chest, feeling the shaky rise and fall of wilburs breathing. phil noted the bruises and cuts that were slowly healing around his arms and face, along with the loss of blood leaving his son pale.  
whatever this was, it wasn’t good.  
“and you said the stab wound was closed, schlatt?” phil asked as he examined wilburs stomach, where a scar was present.  
“y-yeah. tubbo whipped something up real quick when we thought it was the end. i don’t know how he did it, it didn’t even look like he had potions on him. but he closed the wound after will went unconscious.  
but will never woke up.” schlatt recounted the awful night. he was planning to grab the boys and run as far away as he could when tubbo stood up from his spot next to tommy, bent down in front of will, and pressed his hand onto his wound. in a bright flash of yellow light, wilburs wound was closed.  
that sounded awfully familiar to phil. healing magic was a common power among archangels. however, it was something to look into after he woke his son up.  
“there must be something preventing him from waking up. i can take a look inside his mind, and maybe then i can understand this better.” phil turned to schlatt, who seemed dumbfounded.  
“i’m sorry, look inside his mind? what are you, a wizard or something?”  
“archangel,” phil motioned to his wings, “but close enough. ive been in many minds, schlatt. getting into wilburs will be easy.” he turned back to his son, putting his dominant hand over wills head.  
“wait-phil. let me grab the boys first. they’ll want to be here if wilbur wakes up.” schlatt disappears for a second, then returns to the bedroom with a disgruntled tommy, muttering about it being too early for this sh-  
tubbo walked in shortly after and immediately clung to tommy’s arm, the former more awake than the latter. tommy shifted to make tubbo more comfortable.  
phil smiled, seeing his sons in these two boys. maybe he can take them all under his wings.  
someday.  
now, he must find his son.  
he places his hand just over wilburs head, and closes his eyes. phil takes a deep breath, and ignites the spell.  
as he opens his eyes, they glow a bright yellow, as does his hand. wilbur appears to glow the same color, but fainter.  
schlatt nearly yelps in surprise. he’s never seen archangel magic before, and he certainly wasn’t expecting phil to glow.  
“calm down buddy, this happens all the time.” techno hasn’t moved an inch, simply staring at his brother.  
“youve seen this a million times! i’ve never even seen an archangel, much less his magic!” schlatt is nearly hysterical, torn between awe for the archangel and concern over wilbur.  
“you guys need to be quiet. he has to focus.” tubbo pipes up from the other side of the room. both of the older men look to the small boy.  
“and how would you know that?” techno asks, his brow raised ever so slightly.  
“i-i don’t know. i just figured phil needs some quiet.” tubbo looks down, wondering how he knew that too. tommy rubs the hand on his arm and gives his brother a reassuring look before turning back to look at wilbur.

phil opens his eyes to see nothing.  
nothing? this was new.  
normally, a patients mind had at least a few things indicating what was wrong. something to indicate trauma or a wound on the inside.  
seeing nothing but white space concerns him.  
where was the inner wilbur? every person has an inner conscience that manifests when phil arrives.  
the archangel spreads his wings and is about to soar up when-  
“...dad?”  
there he is.  
phil freezes, folds his wings, and turns around to see a sleepy wilbur rubbing his eye. he looks so confused.  
oh, wilbur.  
he smiled.  
“hi, son.”  
“dad, what are you doing here? you’re dead. technos dead. you’re not supposed to be here.”  
oh.  
no.  
is that really what he thought?  
after all these years?  
it’s what phil thought.  
the archangels smile dropped as he walked over to his son and wrapped him into his arms.  
“will, techno and i have been alive this entire time. we thought you were dead ever since the attack. we’ve been looking for you, on the slim chance you’d still be here. and we found you.” phil’s eyes began to water. he had his son again.  
wilburs body tensed with realization, then began to shake as he wrapped his arms around his father.  
“dad, how- what- you- you’re...okay?” was all wilbur could get out before the sobs started to wrack his body. phil merely rubbed his sons back before letting out some tears of his own.  
“it’s going to take more than a few hunters to take down your old man.” wilbur laughed into his fathers shoulder, feeling so small and so young. he inhaled, and pulled away from phil.  
“dad, why are you back now? what- what’s going on?” wilbur was still shaking, trying to process all of this information coming at him so fast.  
phil sighed. “wilbur, you’ve been in a coma for nearly 4 weeks. i don’t know if you would’ve made it if techno didn’t literally run into your ram friend a few days ago.”  
“ram friend-“ wilburs eyes widened with realization, remembering the night he died. “schlatt! he- oh god, tommy and tubbo- i got stabbed, right? aren’t i dead?”  
phil shook his head. “no, tubbo managed to close your wound before you died. schlatt told me everything. he’s been trying to wake you up ever since.”  
“tubbo, he closed my wound?” wilbur looked down at his stomach, feeling discomfort, yet reassurance. “that kid always has something up his sleeve.”  
“i have a feeling he’s got potential. along with the loud one. he’s got some good fighting skills.” wilbur laughed at that.  
“tommy’s got quite the mouth, i’ll agree. but he’s got passion, and that’s what makes him strong.” phil hummed in agreement, and the two sat in silence for a second.  
“dad? if tubbo closed my wound...  
why haven’t i woken up yet?”  
phil looked down at the ground. “that’s the thing, will. we don’t know why you won’t wake up. i came here to see if i could find some answers.”  
wilbur looked almost flabbergasted. “but...but i want to wake up! i want to see you and techno again. i want to see my boys, i want to see schlatt! why can’t i wake up, dad? i want to be there with you! who’s protecting everyone when i’m not there?” panic rose in wilburs voice the more he spoke.  
“schlatt must be tearing his hair out trying to deal with tommy and tubbo without me. and the boys- oh god, the boys are still so young! i need to be there for them, dad! i need to... i need...” wilbur trailed off, breathing rapidly.  
the atmosphere around them started to darken. phil looked around, and without a moments waste, pulled his son back into his arms.  
“i know, will. i know you aren’t doing this on purpose. something must be interfering with your outer consciousness.” he rubbed circles into his sons back to help calm his breathing. “i’m gonna find out what that is, don’t you worry.”  
the archangel felt his son relax in his arms, his muscles loosening. the sky lightened back to its original form.  
“dad, i’m so scared.” wilbur whispered into his fathers shoulder. “what if i never wake up?  
i’m so cold, dad.”  
phil felt his heart shatter. he didn’t want his first reunion with his son in nearly a decade to go like this.  
“you’re going to be okay, will. you’re going to wake up. i’ll go back to hell if it means i get to see you in the physical realm again.” he felt his grip on his son slipping.  
he felt will falling asleep.  
it was time for phil to leave.  
“i love you, wilbur. i’m gonna figure this out for you. i have to go, but i’ll be back soon, okay? i promise.”  
“i love you, dad.” wilbur whispered into his dads shoulder. “say hi to techno for me.”  
“i will.”  
phil closed his eyes.

schlatt was pacing.  
it had only been fifteen minutes, but it had felt like weeks.  
techno hadn’t moved from off the wall, eyes closed.  
tommy and tubbo were now sitting on the ground, using each other as supports. tommy was nearly asleep again, but tubbo nudged him awake.  
phil was still frozen in his glowing state, eyes wide open.  
“how long does this normally take, techno?”  
“i told you the first twenty times, it depends on the patient. you need to calm yourself, ram boy.” techno opened his eyes and smiled as he called schlatt his new nickname.  
schlatt sped over to techno, hands grabbing his collar. “i told you to stop calling me ram boy, you-“  
phil gasps and stumbles back, losing his balance. schlatt and techno both reach to catch him.  
“phil! what happened in there? did you see wilbur?” schlatt asks. once phil regains his balance, the ram hybrid walks over to wilburs bed, watching for any signs of consciousness.  
phil shared a glance with techno and looked down. techno released his grip on his father and returned to the wall.  
the archangel approached schlatt and put a hand on his shoulder.  
“schlatt, i saw wilbur. he’s okay in there.” phil smiled.  
“...” schlatt stared at phil.  
“he’s not going to wake up, is he?”  
phil sighed. “it’s not that he’s not going to, it’s that he can’t wake up. an outside force is keeping him from waking up, and i have no idea what it is.”  
in the corner of his eye, schlatt could see tommy and tubbo sharing a concerned glance.  
schlatt took a moment to process this, then sighed.  
“okay. how do we find out what this mysterious force is?”

“it has to be a mental block.” schlatt said from the end of the dinner table.  
everyone looked up from their food at the ram hybrid. tubbo was rambling about a new beehive he saw close to house before schlatt piped up.  
he hasn’t spoken since he left wilburs bedroom earlier that day. phil’s interaction with his son left schlatt confused.  
why wouldn’t wilbur wake up?  
if he wanted to, there had to be something keeping him from physically doing it.  
just like how nightmare-  
no. no going down that road yet.  
“what makes you think that, schlatt?” phil asked.  
“i-“ schlatt started. was he really going to talk about this in front of the boys? they knew how his horn was broken, but nothing more about his past.  
if it meant wilbur would wake up, then it was worth it.  
“after my village burnt down, i was taken captive by nightmare and the rest of the hunters. they injected-“ schlatt paused, closing his eyes. “something, into me. they had some bullshit scientific name for it. i don’t remember. whatever it was, it gave me what i called a mental block. nightmare would say a certain phrase- and i would immediately do his bidding. now matter how much i didn’t want to obey, i couldn’t escape it. it was like he had my mind in a chokehold. he made me do things- “ schlatt cut himself off, not wanting to send the younger boys into a panic. “something similar must be happening to wilbur. it was a hunters sword that stabbed him, right? maybe the blade had something on it.”  
all eyes were on him, each person stunned into silence. even techno had nothing to say.  
after a few more seconds of silence, phil smiled.  
“you might be onto something, schlatt. we can talk more about this after dinner.  
tubbo, what were you saying about the beehive?” the archangel glanced at the ram, then back at the younger boy next to him.  
“well, i-i was saying that i haven’t seen the queen yet, but she’s most likely surrounded by the male worker bees. most bees don’t live longer than a few days, you know....”  
as tubbo continued to ramble, schlatt picked at his food for a minute before getting up and walking out of the room.  
tommy followed him not long after.

schlatt sat down on the old porch, feeling the wood creak under his feet. the night air was chill, and the sun was just finished setting. he closed his eyes and let his mind wander.  
“you’re going to do what i say, and you’re going to do it now, little ram.”  
the feeling of numbness. hands touching him, refusing to let go, cutting off his circulation. needles pricking his skin.  
“wilbur, will- run! please, just go! i’ll be okay, i’ll be-“  
the feeling of a horn shattering.  
“we’re going to take you stupid hybrids and monsters down, one by fucking one! starting with you, little ram.”  
the feeling of electricity shooting through his body.  
blades slicing his skin.  
hot tears falling.  
smoke.  
fire.  
so much fire.  
in and out.  
in and out.  
in and-  
he couldn’t breathe.  
the door opened.  
“schlatt?”  
the ram exhaled, opened his eyes, and turned to see tommy in the doorway.  
“hey, big t.” schlatt tried his best to not sound shaken up.  
tommy walked forward and sat down next to him, their shoulders touching. they both looked out into the distance.  
after a few beats, tommy whispered.  
“it’s okay not to be okay, you know.”  
schlatts breath hitched, looking down at the boy.  
“there’s obviously a lot more to your story than i thought. i could see you didn’t want to say all of that at the table.  
i know you just want to help wilbur.” tommy looked up at schlatt.  
“but you don’t have to share everything. if you’re not ready, you don’t have to tell us. you never have to tell us. tubbo and i will still be here.” the blonde boy rested his head on schlatts shoulder.  
“wilbur would be proud, though, that you’re opening up to us.”  
schlatt felt tears pricking at his eyes. these boys, the boys he thought he had the misfortune of finding, they were so much wiser than their years.  
they’re just kids.  
the tears fell onto the wood floor.  
in and out.  
in and out.  
tommy wrapped his arms around the ram, which schlatt returned with near desperation. he clung onto the boy with everything he had, sobs racking his body.  
it’s too much.  
“i know.” tommy whispered, and held schlatt a little tighter. damn, did he say that out loud?  
whatever.  
for once, schlatt felt glad to have some company. he’s never cried in front of anyone other than wilbur.  
tommy was surprisingly good company, for the loudmouth that he was. schlatt nearly forgot, through all of this, that this kid was still a kid and not always a pain in his side.   
in the distance, schlatt could hear tubbo talking about bees, and phil laughing. the door was still open.  
schlatt let go of tommy and wiped his eyes.  
“thanks, tommy.”  
tommy smiled.  
“we all have to be here for each other, schlatt.”  
“how did you get so wise, kid?”  
“that’s just life, i guess.”  
tommy stood up and walked back into the house, returning to the table.  
after a few more minutes, schlatt stood up and walked through the doorway, finally closing the door.  
instead of returning to the dinner table, he opted to go to wilburs room.  
schlatt opened wilburs door, and saw wilbur asleep on the bed. as always.  
“hey, will.”  
schlatt sat in the chair next to his bed. he’s been through this routine.  
he smiled.  
“remember the time you nearly stabbed me? I was just starting to walk properly again after my horn broke. i finally got my balance down. it was hard, man! the right side of my body always felt heavier than the left...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk how this site works, but enjoy!


	2. prequel part 1: the first meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> how schlatt found himself in the presence on a boy about his age wearing a yellow sweater.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prequel time! i figured i should give some context as to how everything led up to the first chapter bc i kinda started in the middle. this’ll be split into a bunch of parts, bc i’m really excited to explain the mystery behind schlatts horns :)
> 
> also! in this chapter, wilbur and schlatt are both 14. in the first chapter (i’ll be calling it present day) they’re 22.

schlatt was running.

his breathing was labored and his feet ached but he couldn’t. stop. running.

somehow, some way, he was able to escape nightmare and the rest of the hunters. 

those damn masked men.

the frowny faces that were painted on would forever haunt the ram hybrid. 

but it doesn’t matter anymore, right? schlatt was free.

keep running. take a big breath. where will you go from here?

you can’t go home. your village burnt long ago.

schlatt didn’t want to remember the ash and the smoke filling his throat as he watched his home burn. 

he didn’t want to remember being grabbed by the largest hunter, long blond hair falling in front of the mask.

the fear. the hurt. the mask.

schlatt was free. he didn’t have to remember it if he didn’t want to.

keep running.

god, schlatt was tired. a day of running would do that to a hybrid.

the ram decided to settle down in a desolate area of the woods, a place that looked relatively unexplored by the hunters. a perfect place for someone on the run. he sat down on a log and began to catch his breath.

good thing his horns were still in tact. he was surprised the hunters hadn’t touched them before. 

a hybrids animal features were what kept them alive. from what schlatt was told as a child, his horns kept all of his senses in tact, as well has his balance. they contained the most nerve endings in all of his body. he could use them as a defense, but it could throw his entire body off. 

so schlatt chose to never touch them, in fear they might shatter in his hands. 

he wouldn’t know what would happen to him if one broke. 

the sound of a branch breaking interrupted schlatts thoughts. 

the ram jumped up and whipped his head around to the source of the sound, defense mode activated.

he wouldn’t have been found by the hunters already, right?

it was dark. he could dodge and weave through the trees as long as none of the hunters had night vision potions. 

schlatt nearly turned and ran when the figure showed itself.

a young boy, around the same age as schlatt, peered from around a large tree trunk. his yellow shirt was torn and covered in dirt, and his hat was matted and covered one of his eyes.

well, he didn’t certainly look like a hunter. hunters never took off their masks in public.

“who-who are you?” schlatt asked after what felt like hours of starting at the boy. “are you a hunter?”

“a hunter? are you kidding?” the boy in yellow was quiet, but nearly laughed at him. “i’m the farthest thing from a hunter, and you certainly don’t look like one either, what with your horns and all.” the boy stepped out from behind the tree, moving closer to schlatt.

“well if you’re not a hunter, what are you doing here?” schlatt asked, trying to get a closer look at the boy.

“looking for my family.” the boy in yellow grows somber, looking off to the distance. “we were attacked by a group on hunters and i got separated. i’ve spend the last 3 months trying to find them. my brother, and-and my father. you haven’t seen a man with wings or a pig hybrid, have you?”

schlatt shook his head. he hadn’t seen anyone other than hunters in over two years.

“nah, i haven’t seen them. i’m sorry.”

the boy sighed, and sat on the grass. he looked so defeated. 

schlatt watched him with curiousity. if this boy was to be trusted, if he really did have a similar story to schlatt, then maybe they could become friends.

it would be nice, to have a friend.

schlatt sat down next to the boy.

“you know, i lost my family too.” the boy in yellow looked at a schlatt. “my village was burnt to the ground by hunters. i was the only survivor. the past two years, i’ve been held captive by them. i only just managed to escape.”

schlatt lost himself in his thoughts, recounting the past two years as he looked up to the stars.

“but i could help you look for yours.” 

the boy in yellow smiled.

“what’s your name, ram?”

“schlatt. yours?”

“wilbur.”


	3. prequel part 2: nightmares and dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> schlatt encounters an old enemy, and suffers the consequences for leaving.
> 
> wilbur manages to save his friend.
> 
> somewhere, deep inside a castle, a boy rebels against his father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m kinda just adding characters as i go, so this is definitely going to be interesting. 
> 
> this part of the story is the idea i first had for this au! i just wanted an angsty story about schlatts horns, so here we are.
> 
> also i don’t know the anatomy of a ram horn, sorry. we can just pretend ram hybrid horns are different than regular ram horns :)
> 
> leave a comment if you enjoy this!! i wanna hear from fellow mcyt people :)

the rundown shack they lived in wasn’t safe, schlatt knew that for sure. 

yet, that’s all he could think about while he was running.

god, he was always running. running out of time, running away...

running with wilbur.

the hunters found them. 

keep running.

“get to the shack, will!” schlatt screamed through short breaths. they were gaining on him.

schlatt tripped on a branch, losing his footing for a second. wilbur caught him and tugged him along.

“we have to keep going, we have to-“ wilbur was cut off by a particularly tall hunter. long, blonde hair fell down around his mask. 

schlatt felt his already short breath hitch. 

nightmare.

“oh, you’re not going to do anything.”

no.

no.

NO!

“wilbur, run!” schlatt grabbed his friend by the shoulders. he knew it was too late for himself. maybe, just maybe. he could have his friend.

“no, schlatt! i’m not leaving you, i’m not-“ wilbur was pushed away by nightmare. 

“get down, and stay down, you coward! i have some business with your friend.” nightmare turned toward schlatt, frowny face mask peering through the dark.

schlatt was frozen, eyes wide, staring at his previous captor.

“hello, schlatt. stay completely still for me, won’t you...

little ram?”

no. not those words.

the mental block made its way down schlatts spine, into his legs. 

schlatt couldn’t move. he literally could not move. his eyes darted to wilbur, who was rubbing his shoulder that looked not so in the right place. 

“schlatt? why... why can’t you move?”

“wil..bur...run...” was all schlatt could get through his gritted teeth. nightmare cackled, hair flowing in the wind.

“your friend is right, human. you’d better run before things take a turn for the worse for you.” 

wilbur started to protest. 

“no, i can’t-“

“WILBUR!” schlatt managed to open his mouth enough. he was panting again. 

“just go. please, please...” schlatt whispered, barely loud enough for wilbur to hear. 

wilbur stood up reluctantly.

“i’ll find you.”

schlatt just barely nodded. “good luck.”

wilbur turned and ran towards the shack. schlatt did a once over on the hunters to make sure none were following his friend.

not one hunter left nightmares domain.

“it took me three years, little ram, but i finally found you. my prized possession, my disgusting fucking hybrid! i’m not even sure how you wrestled yourself out of those chains, but i hope this was worth it for you.” nightmare bent down to meet the frozen rams eyes.

“how were your few years of freedom, huh?” nightmare moved his mask to the right.

one bright green eye shone through the dark.

“it’s a shame you’ll never see those again.” 

schlatt stared into nightmares eye, vision starting to cloud. of course, he’s crying again. he had so many dreams about meeting his captor again. 

they all ended with schlatt dead on the cold, cold ground.

the tears fell.

nightmare removed his mask. two green eyes bored into schlatts soul. they illuminated the scar reaching up from nightmares chin to his right eye.

“now, i was going to bring you back to the castle, and maybe give my son a chance to give you a good beating,” 

schlatt gulped. he had heard rumors about nightmare’s son, who he had raised to be a ruthless killing machine.

schlatt was grateful to have never met him.

“but i’ve decided to give you the punishment myself!” nightmare laughed, raising his arms up. “how about that? a little reminder of the old times, huh?”

“fuck...you...” schlatt gained enough control to spit directly into nightmares face. 

nightmare froze, wiped the spit off his cheek, and smiled. 

what a vicious, murder bearing smile.

schlatt fucked up.

“ohoho, you’ve done it now, little ram! i was going to let all of my boys have a chance to rough you up a little bit before i killed you myself,” nightmare motioned to the other hunters, who seemed hungry for a beating.

“but with that? oh, little ram, you’ve set yourself up for something worse than death itself.” 

schlatt felt the panic rising. how bad did he just fuck up?

nightmare started to reach up towards schlatts left horn.

“you know, i always did wonder the purpose of these stupid things on your head.”

oh god.

oh no.

schlatt really wanted to see wilbur.

“boys, pin him down.”

the hunters nearly tackled schlatt. as he began to get feeling in his body again, the hunters pinned him onto his right side, with the left horn exposed. 

god, please, anyone.

nightmare bent over schlatt, one hand gripping his horn with a force he had never felt before.

the nerve endings in schlatts horn went haywire. the pain receptors were screaming. 

schlatt was screaming.

there was a reason he had never touched these things. 

“now tell me, little ram, how fragile is a horn of this size?”

schlatt squirmed under the grip of the hunters, but they held him down with relative ease. 

nightmare placed a foot on schlatts side and adjusted his grip on his horn.

“and what happens when one breaks?”

he didn’t know.

schlatt didn’t know what would happen. 

he cried out, hoping someone would come to his aid.

no one. 

it was raining.

when did it start raining?

“no answer, huh?” the rain was coating nightmares face and soaking his hair. 

the hunter smiled. 

“let’s find out.”

two hands on the horn.

schlatt only thought about wilbur.

the horn snapped.

sometime between when wilbur left schlatt and when he felt safe enough to grab supplies and leave the shack, it started to rain. 

his shoulder burned. it was most likely dislocated from when nightmare pushed him. 

his bag, filled with weapons and potions, slapped against his back.

it was heavy. wilbur didn’t care. he just kept running.

back the way you came, wilbur. find him.

find schlatt.

he was running for what felt like hours, searching for a sign, something, anything to get his friend back.

wilbur passed an unnatural black mound with brown hair peeking out of it. 

wilbur stopped.

brown hair?

schlatt!

wilbur ran back to the body, almost completely covered by a black tarp. he ripped it off to find-

oh, jesus.

the boy was unconscious. the bottom half of schlatts horn was completely torn off, with the missing piece nowhere to be found. pieces of bone were scattered around him. the boy was bruised and bloody, from wounds wilbur couldn’t see. 

raindrops were pelting schlatt, washing the blood away. 

god, was his friend even still alive?

“schlatt, no, please-“

as he got closer to schlatt, he could see the ram hybrid’s eyebrows were furrowed, and wilbur could hear a faint, labored breath.

schlatt was still alive, but wilbur didn’t know for how much longer. 

this was your fault, wilbur. you left schlatt when he needed you most-

wilbur shook the thought away, figuring that if he couldn’t be there for schlatt before, by god, he’d be here now.

wilbur dug into his bag and looked for a healing potion. he desperately clawed through the back, looking for the bottle-

he found it! 

as he picked it up, wilbur saw a yellow object peaking out from underneath.

was that-

a golden apple?

wilbur had never seen a golden apple in his life. how the hell did one get into his supply bag?

no matter. there were more important matters at hand. 

wilbur chopped up the apple with the dagger he kept in his bag, and threw the slices into the potion bottle. this was an old trick dad taught him. the golden apple would maximize the effects of the health potion.

god, what wilbur would do to see his dad again.

the boy in yellow shook the bottle, evaluated the mixture, and deemed it ready to drink.

he gathered schlatt into his arms, careful not to touch his horns and cause any more damage, and tilted his head back.

wilbur tipped the potion down schlatts throat, silently hoping he wouldn’t choke on it.

the potion seemed to go down without any struggle, and wilbur watched as some of the bruises faded and schlatts visible wounds closed ever so slightly.

it was working! thank the maker, it was working. 

nothing happened to schlatts horn, but wilbur knew that couldn’t be fixed. limb regeneration, as far as he knew, was out of the realm of possibility.

then again, magic did exist. his dad was proof. 

but for now, wilbur was going to have to help his friend deal with his lost limb when he woke up.

wilbur closed his bag, and carefully lifted schlatt into his arms.

his shoulder burned in agony,but wilbur ignored it.

he adjusted the boy in his arms to get more comfortable.

schlatt groaned quietly.

god, the ram must be in so much pain.

“i’m so sorry, schlatt, but i have to get you home. i’m sorry i couldn’t get you sooner, but i’m here now, okay? i promise, you’re going to be okay.”

schlatt didn’t respond. wilbur hoped he heard.

wilbur started his trek back to their rundown shack.

nightmare walked into his bedroom, a sigh leaving his mouth. he threw his mask on the ground and sat on the bed.

he opened his hand to reveal the end of a ram horn. 

he let his little ram live, somehow. finding him in the woods was a real treat, and now he had a piece of him forever. 

“dad?” 

nightmare looked up.

“clay. have you finished training for the night?” 

“yes, dad. the hybrids have been put back into their chambers.” 

“excellent work. you’re going to be a great hunter, clay.” nightmare stood up and patted his sons shoulder. 

“what’s that in your hand, dad?” clay motioned to the horn.

nightmare chuckled.

“a remnant of a past hybrid of mine. he’s been taken care of, don’t you worry.”

“...oh.” nightmares son had always been against killing hybrids, as he saw something in them. 

nightmare would get that conditioned out of him, though.

“how about you head to bed, son? it’s been a long day for us both.”

“alright. goodnight, dad.”

“goodnight, son.”

clay walked out of his dads room into his own. he closed the door.

as soon as he knew no one was passing the hall, clay reached under his bed and found his keepsake chest. his father didn’t know about this.

he opened it and looked through the remnants.

letters from an old friend who he lost contact with long ago. 

a dagger, gifted to him from his father. it fit his hands perfectly.

a hunter mask. it was blank.

clay gripped the mask, and felt rage build up inside him. 

he threw the mask to the side.

how could his father just go around, killing hybrids? they were just like humans. they had families and friends.

clay acted like he didn’t know what his father did outside the castle walls. he feigned ignorance when his father spoke about killing hybrids, capturing them, burning down villages. he had stood by and watched first hand.

whoever clay was happening to spar with that day, whichever poor hybrid happened to be captive that day, he always spared. 

every single time.

they deserved to live like clay did.

he was done ignoring it. the injustice, his fathers tyranny, everything.

clay picked up the mask from where he threw it, and grabbed a marker from his desk. 

clay drew on it.

a smiley face. 

clay looked at it with satisfaction and put it on, tightening the straps around his head. 

he threw on his finest green hoodie, and grabbed his dagger from the keepsake box and a tactical belt filled with potions and other weapons.

clay considered writing a letter for his father, explaining why he was leaving.

his father didn’t deserve that. 

he didn’t deserve a goodbye.

clay opened the sole window in the room, feeling the rain hit his mask. 

this was it.

he climbed out and scaled down the castle, hitting the ground on both feet.

he turned back to look at his home, where he had been raised for 17 years. 

“goodbye, dad.” 

clay turned and ran into the woods.

where there are nightmares, there are also dreams.


	4. prequel part 3: discoveries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> schlatt discovers his injuries.
> 
> dream finds an old friend in the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’ve been having so much fun writing this!!! thank you for the kudos everyone :)
> 
> there’s a lot more swearing in this chapter. schlatts an angry man.
> 
> here’s a little bit of a timeline/age confirmation:
> 
> dream(+dream team), wilbur, and schlatt are all the same age
> 
> schlatt gets captured at 12
> 
> schlatt and wilbur meet at 14
> 
> schlatt gets his horn broken and dream runs away at 17
> 
> enjoy!

wilbur collapsed on the chair next to schlatts makeshift bed.

he had been working for three days straight to keep his friend alive, making potions, replacing bandages...

staying away from the horns.

wilbur was a healer, but certainly not an expert of ram hybrid anatomy. hell, he didn’t ever see schlatt touch those things. how would he know how to fix this if the owner of the horns didn’t know either?

wilbur could only hope his potions could keep the pain at bay.

jesus christ. schlatts going to be fuming when he wakes up.

the 17 year old ram hybrid is always angry about this or that. somethings in his shoe, wilbur. his leg hurts, wilbur! he didn’t get enough sleep, wilbur! 

the human would normally just laugh it off as schlatt being schlatt. 

but this was different. a whole piece of his friend, a piece that defined who we was, was missing.

yeah. schlatt was gonna be pissed. 

the sun was starting to rise, and wilbur found himself dozing off. he knew schlatt would be okay as long as he was there, so he closed his eyes and allowed himself to rest. 

it only felt like minutes had passed when he heard schlatt cry out.

wilburs eyes shot open immediately to see schlatt just waking up, squinting and trying to reposition himself.

“jesus- fuck, what kinda bitch has the lights on at this time? a ram’s gotta get his damn beauty sleep! and don’t even get me started on this migraine, god! it’s like someone knocked me out or some shit! what the fuck?” the ram’s speech slurred as he spoke. he must still be feeling some potion effects.

wilbur nearly jumped 5 feet into the air and approached schlatts bed. concern lined the humans face.

“schlatt! hey- hey buddy, cmon now, you gotta lay back down, okay? you’re still recovering-“ wilbur struggled to keep an antsy schlatt from getting out of bed.

“wilbur? what the fuck, man- it’s like 10 am dude! what are you talking about? god, my head hurts.” 

okay, so he was still out of it.

“schlatt-schlatt please, you need- you need to stay in BED!” wilbur nearly yelled at the ram, who stopped struggling and began sinking back onto the shitty mattress. 

“jeez, alright man.” schlatt raised his hands in a defensive manner. “if you’re gonna be that pissy about it, fine by me. but can you tell me what the hell is going on? and why my head hurts so fucking bad?”

wilbur sighed, and turned around to grab some bandages. 

“let me look at your arm while i tell you.” schlatt had gotten a bad burn on his arm from one of the hunters. wilbur figured it had to have been from someone twisting his skin too hard and too fast.

schlatt huffed, and let wilbur examine his arm while wrapping a new bandage around it. his head hurt. 

“three days ago, we were looking for food in the woods when we accidentally activated a hunter trap-“

“THE HUNTERS!” schlatt jumped out of bed and immediately started to examine wilbur, ignoring his own injuries. 

“wilbur are you okay? fuck, did they do anything to you? i know i told you to run and i saw you run but they didn’t follow you did they i swear to fucking god how could i have been so stupid-“

wilbur grabbed his friend and started guiding him back to the bed.

“schlatt, please, i’m fine! no one got me. well, my shoulder got hurt when nightmare pushed me to the ground but i’m fine-“

schlatt immediately tensed upon hearing nightmares name. wilbur froze too, knowing something was happening. schlatts eyes moved to the wall, but wilbur knew he was staring at nothing.

“schlatt? hey man, are you okay? i didn’t mean to-“

schlatt got up and ran towards to the bathroom, which contained the only mirror in their shack.

oh, god.

“schlatt, wait! don’t go in there yet!” wilbur said, panicking as he ran after his friend.

wilbur reached the bathroom and saw schlatt just staring.

staring at what was left of his horn.

wilbur didn’t know is he should say anything, because what could possibly help him right now?

a moment of silence passed. 

another.

schlatt continued to stare at himself.

so that’s why his head hurt so bad.

“...schlatt-“

“what the FUCK!” schlatt slammed his hands onto the sink countertop, which caused him to bounce back and nearly fall.

yep, he’s pissed.

good thing wilbur was there to catch him from behind.

“schlatt, you gotta calm dow-“ 

“calm down, wilbur? really? now, after i waltz into our fucking bathroom in this shitty fucking house and see my left horn got ripped in half? i’m surprised nightmare didn’t just fucking kill me right there! what the fuck did he do to me what the fuck what thE FUCK-“

wilbur knew a panic attack when he saw one. he suffered from them time to time, and he could list everything schlatt was going through right now: rapid talking and breathing, erratic behavior, shaking-

he was crying. 

wilbur was still holding him in this awkward catching position, so he quickly moved in front of schlatt to grab him from the front and wrap his arms around him.

“it’s okay.”

wilbur started to guide them both towards the floor. schlatt started to grab at wilbur, desperate to hold onto something.

“it’s not! it’s not fucking okay! my horn, my- my...” schlatt buried his head into the crook of wilburs neck. 

“he’s ruined me.”

“that’s not true. you’re still schlatt. you’re still here with me. you’re going to be okay.” wilbur wanted to just fix everything, reverse time to last week where schlatt still had a horn.

but you can’t change something like this.

“how am i not dead, will?”

“i don’t know. but you’re alive, and that’s all that matters. i’m going to help you through this.” 

schlatt let out a shaky breath and nodded into wilburs shoulder.

“when i was a kid, my brother techno got injured real bad in an attack. his wrist broke, and he thought he wouldn’t be able to fight anymore. techno was so good at it too. it destroyed him, not knowing if he’d be able to do what he loved. but my dad and i were there to help him recover, and he was back to fighting in no time.” wilbur sighed, remembering his family.

“you’re stronger than you know, schlatt. i promise, i’ll be here every step of the way to help you. you’re my family, and you have been for some time. you’re going to be okay.”

schlatt was silent for a few seconds.

“will... my head hurts.”

“i know, schlatt. i know.”

“...thanks.”

they were still on the cold bathroom floor, holding onto each other like their lives depended on it.

their lives did depend on it.

as soon as schlatt stopped shaking and felt himself dozing off in wilburs arms, the human lifted him up and guided him back to his room.

schlatt stumbled a little bit on the way, but he didn’t seem to notice.

wilbur did. something was off with schlatts balance, and it probably had to do with the lack of horn on his left side.

oh, well.

another step in the recovery process.

wilbur knew it would be okay.

it had to be.

clay knew he had to come up with a new identity to separate himself from his old life.

only a few outside of the castle knew about the son of nightmare, but that was still few too many. 

two weeks after he initially ran, clay settled on dream.

dream.

the antithesis to a nightmare.

it was perfect.

so he had a name down. but now, he needed allies.

dream hadn’t seen any of his friends since before he was a teen. nightmare let him play with other humans while his father set up negotiations with the surrounding villages. 

maybe they were still around.

as he set up his camp for the night, dream heard explosions coming from the east. another hunter attack, he supposed. 

dream wondered if any of his friends remembered him. if they were even still alive. 

if dream just showed up at a friends door, would they even be able to help? would they trust him?

he was the son of a tyrannical maniac. 

he would probably have to do this alone.

that’s why it surprised him so much when a figure came running past his campsite, smoke in the distance.

dream jumped up, trying to identify the figure.

was it a hunter? 

if it was, dream was dead.

fuck it. it’s only one hunter. dream could take them.

“hey! w-wait!”

dream ran after the figure, hoping to get some answers. he caught up rather quickly, as stamina was an important part of his training.

the figure was wearing a black cloak, which made it hard for dream to identify them from behind. 

“hey! what’s going on?” dream decided to risk it, and grabbed the figures cloak. 

he must’ve grabbed it hard, as the entire cloak came off, and the figure stopped running. 

the boy was panting, holding a stick of tnt.

this was no hunter. he was too scrawny.

“who are you?” dream took out his dagger as a precaution. “i’m armed, so don’t try anything. drop the tnt, put your hands in the air and turn around.”

dream could hear the boy mutter a curse under his breath. he dropped the tnt, raised his hands, and slowly turned around.

another explosion in the east.

dream couldn’t believe it.

sapnap stood in front of him, hands raised, face covered in dirt and soot.

he looked furious.

“what, are you gonna kill me with your stupid little dagger? there’s nothing left of my village! you and your stupid hunter buddies took it all. i blew up what i could and ran. it would honestly be a waste if you did-“

dream took off his mask.

“...sapnap?”

sapnap dropped his arms. he knew those green eyes anywhere.

“clay? what the fuck?” sapnap nearly laughed as the boys ran into each other’s arms.

“it’s been years, dude! where the fuck have you been?”

dream pulled away from his friend. “dad kept me in the castle all these years. i finally got the courage to run. and hey, my dagger isn’t stupid! it’s made of netherite and i could kill you right now.” dream laughed, faking a swing at his friend.

sapnap dodged the swing, just like their old sparring days. 

his eyes were bright.

dream really, really missed having friends.

“thank god, dude. your dad is an asshole.”

“i know.” dream looked away. “i couldn’t take watching him burn down villages anymore.”

“speaking of that...” sapnap looked east, where his village once stood. “i did what i could to stop the hunters. negotiations weren’t going so well anymore, i guess.”

“shit, man. i’m sorry. i guess things haven’t been going well since i left. i didn’t even give dad a goodbye. is your family okay?”

sapnap stood still.

“mom and dad died a few years back. i kinda had to learn to take care of myself. it doesn’t matter anymore, though.”

dream looked at his old friend, guilt filling his heart. how much had he missed out on, being trapped in that stupid castle?

he didn’t get to see his friends grow up.

but he could start now.

dream offered his hand to sapnap.

“sap, come with me. i need to find more people willing to take my dad down. having you here with me will definitely add to our odds. what he’s doing is wrong, and we can stop it.”

sapnap turned to his friend, smiled, and shook his hand.

“anything for you, clay. i missed you.”

“actually, i go by dream now.” dream put his mask back on, adjusting the straps. “gotta go incognito for a little bit.”

“dude, that’s a dope ass name.” the two turned west and started to walk. “i want a cool name like that.”

dream laughed. “sapnap is cool enough, don’t worry. all the ladies we save will love that.”

“hey!” sapnap punched dreams shoulder lightly. dream only laughed harder. “i’ve gotten plenty of babes off the name alone.”

“sure, sappy-nappy.”

“shut the fuck up, dream!”

as they walked away from the lives they once lived, dream started to feel a little better about this whole running away thing. he’s got a friend again.

he could use a third.

“do you think we could get george to come with us? i haven’t seen him in forever.” sapnap wondered out loud.

“i was just thinking about that. it might be a little harder to track him down, though.” dream said. “he and his parents were always traveling.”

sapnap threw his arm around dreams shoulders. 

“dude, if anyone could track down george, it’s us. we could bring the old team back!”

dream smiled.

“yeah. we could.”


	5. prequel part 4: the tommy and tubbo christmas special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> schlatt and wilbur meet two boys in the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i spent so long going over this chapter, so i’m sorry for the delay!! 
> 
> i’ve kinda twisted the ages around a bit so tommy and tubbo are the same age, along with wilbur and schlatt being six years older than them. 
> 
> tommy and tubbo- 15
> 
> wilbur and schlatt- 21
> 
> enjoy!

they were both so incredibly tired.

wilbur and schlatt had gone out to look for more supplies, as wilbur was running low on potion materials and schlatt just needed something to do.

they headed south, towards the rivers and streams. the boys’ shack was on the higher end of a hill, so it had been a long day of walking down. 

but that was in the morning, and now the sun was setting. they were still outside, and it was getting cold.

they had to walk all the way back up the hill.

schlatt wanted to go home.

“will, why can’t we head back now? it’s fucking freezing, dude.”

“i still need supplies for the strength potion i’m developing, schlatt. i’ve told you this.” wilburs voice held a hint of annoyance, but secretly the human agreed with his friend.

“you’ve got enough supplies to last you three years, man! i’m tired, and i know you are too.” even as it was getting dark, schlatt could see the bags under wilburs eyes. “it’s gonna take us forever to get back up the hill!”

schlatt wondered if wilbur had ever slept since his horn broke. he spent most of his time, these past few years taking care of schlatt, fixing up his wounds, helping him walk properly again. it was such a long recovery process.

but, schlatt wondered, when was wilbur gonna take care of himself?

“these supplies are for healing. i’m trying to make an entirely new potion that’ll enhance strength, and that requires different supplies. i’m not done looking.” wilbur turned from schlatt and bent down, studying a little mushroom poking up from the ground.

“oh come on, wilbur, it’s late!” schlatt grabbed wilburs arm and lifted him up. “we need to go back home. who knows what the fuck could be out here at night?”

“schlatt, calm down, man!” wilbur protested. “it’s going to be fine. nothings out here right now. this is a deserted area of the woods, i come here all the time-“

a branch cracked in the distance. 

something rustled behind wilbur.

schlatt swore he could hear something, or someone... whispering?

wilbur and schlatt immediately swerved their heads to the source of the sound. 

a bush.

somethings in the bush.

“i stand corrected.” wilbur turned around and stuck his arm out in front of schlatt, trying to protect him.

schlatt took out the small, yet effective knife he kept on him.

“we don’t know what’s in there, will,” schlatt whispered. 

“i know, just... be prepared for anything.” wilbur slowly approached the bush.

“wha- wilbur! what do you think you’re doing?” schlatt whisper-yelled.

“i’m trying to see what’s here!” wilbur whisper-yelled back, reaching the bush. 

schlatt wasn’t able to see from his angle, but wilbur could just make out a tiny patch of blond... something in the bush. 

as he was about to comb through it, that something popped out.

wilbur and schlatt both yelled in surprise. wilbur jumped back, nearly dropping his bag before regaining his footing.

it was a kid. a kid with messy blond hair.

holy shit.

wilbur started to approach the boy, but not before the boy could pull out a crossbow, already loaded.

“don’t move! either of you! i swear to- i swear to god i’ll shoot you fucking hunters! leave us alone!” the boy yelled, adjusting his aim to move between wilbur and schlatt repeatedly.

us? schlatt wondered in his mind as he watched the boy, dropping his knife so he wouldn’t get shot.

“woah, woah! okay, there’s no need for the crossbow!” wilbur held his hands up and laughed nervously. “we arent hunters!”

“well, how the fuck would i know that?” the kid asked, clearly terrified of them both.

“hey kid, you see these?” schlatt pointed to his horns. the boy turned to schlatt, arrow still loaded. “the hunters have already taken their shot at me. and i can tell you for sure i wouldn’t be aligning myself with one.” 

he motioned to wilbur, who smiled and nodded, hoping to not have the crossbow aimed inches away from his face anymore.

the boy watched them both for a second, contemplating. his eyes kept darting between them, then something behind him. 

wilbur tried to lean over to see what the boy was looking at. 

he saw another boy, this time a brunette clad in green, hunched over on the ground. he was unconscious.

“hey, you said stay away from us, right? is there someone else with you?” wilbur said. the boy noticed wilbur was staring past him, towards the ground behind him.

his eyes widened. the boy moved in front of wilburs line of vision. “n-no! there’s no one here! leave me alone!” the boy straightened his aim straight between wilburs eyes.

shit. he was going to die if he didn’t say anything.

schlatt was terrified. this kid could kill his friend at any moment, but he could only watch in fear of the crossbow turning on him.

“hey, it’s okay. i know there’s someone behind you.” wilbur said in a calm, quiet voice. the boy tensed. 

“from the looks of it, he’s hurt. but i can help him. i have healing potions in my bag.” wilbur motioned to his bag, which the boy also looked at, not wavering in his stance.

“if i reach into my bag and grab a healing potion, will you promise not to shoot me?”

“...only if you show me the inside of the bag. if there’s any hunter gear in there, i’ll shoot you and your stupid ram friend.” the boy motioned to schlatt, who looked offended.

“i’m not- oh whatever, wilbur just show him the stupid bag.” schlatt huffed.

wilbur slowly let his hands down to his bag, released the strap and showed the contents to the boy. the two looked inside for a few seconds before wilbur grabbed a reddish-pink potion.

“this is the best healing potion i have. i promise you, i can heal your friend.” wilbur stood up straight, not breaking eye contact with the boy.

“and i never break a promise.”

after the boy watched him for what felt like hours, he finally dropped his crossbow. before schlatt and wilbur could even relax, the boy started to shake.

“p-please, he needs... he needs help.”

wilbur moved immediately, putting his hand on the boys shoulder. 

“you can count on me. what’s your name, kid?”

“tommy.”

“and your friend?”

“t-tubbo.”

schlatt couldn’t believe it. he almost died at the hand of a kid named tommy. 

what the fuck?

“okay, tommy, i’m wilbur, and this is schlatt. i’m gonna need you to tell me what happened to tubbo. schlatt, come here.” wilbur and tommy went behind the bush, and schlatt followed soon after. wilbur bent down to get a closer look at tubbo. 

the boy was still breathing, thank god.

“we...he fell down the side of the hill. there were a lot of hunters, and...” tommy motioned to tubbo’s leg. “he got hurt pretty bad.”

wilbur lifted tubbos torn pant leg and examined the boys injuries. he felt the bone to see if anything hurt deeper than the skin. 

“nothings broken, but these bruises are pretty dark and these cuts could get infected if not treated properly. how long ago did the fall happen, tommy?”

“about... three hours ago, maybe? before the sun went down. i’m not sure. he won’t... he won’t wake up.” 

wilbur looked at tubbos head. the kid might have a concussion if he hadn’t woken up yet.

tommy was hugging himself, breathing rapidly. wilbur looked at schlatt and motioned towards tommy with his head.

schlatt knew what this was. he went through this too.

“hey, bud, it’s okay. wilburs gonna get your friend all fixed up! tubbo will be alright, i promise. wills good at this kinda thing.” schlatt sat the boy down on the ground before sitting next to him.

“it’s not...it’s- i just-“ tommy struggled to find the words he wanted to say, absentmindedly grabbing at the grass below him.

“tubbo’s all i have. i cant... i cant lose my family again.” wilbur froze at the boy’s mention of family. schlatt recognized the glint in his eyes as the one reserved for mentions of phil or techno.

oh man. schlatt could not have wilbur breaking down too. that would make him the only adult! 

...schlatt was an adult now? since fucking when?

since he and wilbur stumbled into two twelve year olds, that’s when.

“i’m not twelve!” tommy grumbled. fuck, he must’ve said that last part out loud. “i’m fifteen!”

“sorry, kid, but you’re still twelve in my eyes.” schlatt ruffled tommy’s hair, which only made the boy more agitated.

“schlatt, please stop angering the gremlin boy.” wilbur had resumed looking over tubbo, and shot schlatt a shit eating grin as he prepared a healing potion.

“GREMLIN BOY???? excuse me, wilbur, but i am fifteen years of age and capable of shooting you both with my fucking crossbow!” tommy threatened them. both of the older boys knew it was an empty threat.

schlatt laughed a hard, genuine laugh. wilbur smiled, knowing it was the first time in a while schlatt had laughed like that. 

not since his horn was brutally taken away. 

tommy shoved schlatt, not hard enough to hurt the ram, but enough to nearly knock him off the floor. the two began to bicker back and forth, schlatt getting more and more amused at calling the younger boy names. 

wilbur decided he might need to keep these kids around for a while.

“alright, i’m gonna give tubbo this potion, and he should be healed and wake up within the next few hours. is that alright, tommy?”

“um...sure. will i have to watch over him the entire time?” as much as he didn’t want to admit it, tommy was tired. 

wilbur shook his head. “no, i think it’ll be safer if you both came to the shack with us. schlatt and i can take turns watching over him.”

“WHAT? wilbur, you can’t be serious-“ schlatt couldn’t even fathom that wilbur was thinking about taking these kids in.

“schlatt, they have no where else to go. would you rather leave them here to fend off the hunters by themselves?” wilbur stood up, schlatt following suit. the human placed his hand on his friends shoulder.

wilbur lowered his voice so tommy wouldn’t hear. “these kids, schlatt... they remind me of us. remember when we met?”

schlatt looked at tommy and tubbo for a second, hesitating to look back at wilbur. “yeah, i remember.”

wilbur was right. he didn’t know much about tubbo, but based on how tommy talked about him, they were all quite similar. it was obvious the two had known each other for a long time, and they cared about each other.

who would schlatt be, to let some kids fend for themselves, just as he had been doomed to do?

wilbur squeezed schlatts shoulder and smiled, bringing the ram out of his thoughts.

“are you two done bickering over there? i’ve got a tubbo here that needs healing!” tommy pointed at his wrist, as if he had a watch.

“...fine. bring them back to the shack, see if i care.” schlatt waved his hand to dismiss wilbur and sat back down next to tommy.

tommy leaned over to schlatt’s ear.

“...i’m gonna sleep in your bed.” tommy said with a wide grin.

“you are NOT-“

they were back at it again. wilbur chuckled as he poured the potion into tubbos mouth and tilted his head back to make sure he swallowed. 

he could definitely use more people around. schlatt was one of the best things to walk into wilburs life, but it did get lonely for just the two of them.

wilbur could only imagine how his dad would react if he could see him now. 

“alright, let’s head back.” wilbur stood and put his potion supplies away. “i’ll carry tubbo back to the shack. we need to hurry, as it’s a little bit of a ways up.”

“up? oh you’ve gotta be kidding me-“ tommy smacked his forehead with his hand.

“you’re telling me, kid. i’ve been trying to get this asshole to come back home for hours.” schlatt crossed his arms and motioned to wilbur.

wilbur picked tubbo up, ignoring both of the boys in front of him. tubbo was surprisingly light for his stature, which was a bit concerning. he’d have to get these boys some food.

“come on, both of you. the sooner we get back, the sooner you can stop complaining.” wilbur walked past schlatt and tommy at an alarmingly fast pace.

“wh- wilbur, wait!” schlatt started to walk after his friend, tommy catching up behind him.

“can you carry me like will’s carrying tubbo?” tommy asked, rubbing his eye.

“not a chance, you little shit.” schlatt didn’t even bother looking at the gremlin boy. there was no way he was going to-

schlatt and wilbur reached the shack an hour later, both carrying sleeping teens.

“i cannot believe the little bitch jumped into my arms and just fell asleep! how does he do that?” schlatt nearly kicked down the door and walked inside, lowering tommy onto the couch.

“teens can just do that, schlatt. it’s a manipulation tactic.” wilbur placed tubbo on his own bed and grabbed a blanket. schlatt grabbed his own blanket, and they settled the boys in before moving some old chairs from the kitchen into the room. 

“well, it’s bullshit. i’m not letting some kid named tommy push me around like that.” schlatt sat down and stretched his legs. 

wilbur sat down next to him, yawning. “you don’t have to take it so easily. just tell him no.”

“i did that, wilbur! and he did it anyway. i swear, these kids...” 

“yeah, those kids.”

schlatt leaned his head onto wilburs shoulder. the two fell into a comfortable silence, watching the sleeping boys.

soon enough, wilbur heard schlatts breathing even out, and he knew the ram was asleep.

wilbur wondered when tubbo would wake up, and how he was going to explain to him what had happened in the last few hours.

yeah, so you fell down a hill, got a concussion and two tall guys came and nearly got shot by your friend. somehow, the human healed you, and he and the ram brought you and your friend back to their shack. also you guys are a family now.

family. 

wilbur missed having one of those. 

he smiled, thinking of techno and his father. they spent so long caring for wilbur, before...

don’t think about it. focus on the now.

now? 

wilbur had three brothers. whether these boys liked it or not, they were a family. 

wilbur smiled, and fell asleep knowing everything was going to be okay.


	6. prequel part 5: the gang doesn’t ever fucking sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> schlatt has another... bad dream. he and wilbur have a talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i haven’t posted in a while! i’ve been binging unus annus before they meet their untimely death (you’re all free to shame me for not watching them sooner)
> 
> i want to bring phil and techno back into the story soon, so i may start bringing us back to present, post-wilbur-getting-stabbed day soon :)
> 
> also this au is not really set in the minecraft universe, and creepers don’t really exist which is why wilbur and schlatt don’t know what that is in this chapter.
> 
> one more thing!! thank you for all the kudos and nice comments. it’s nice to get even a drop of serotonin from anonymous people on the internet as i’m finishing this semester. 
> 
> enjoy <3

schlatt nearly screamed as he woke up, clutching his chest and breathing heavily.

he had been crashing on the couch for a while, as tommy and tubbo had literally taken his bed and he didn’t mind a change of scenery. the boys needed to sleep on something better than the ground, as tommy and tubbo revealed to wilbur that they had been on the run for 6 months.

schlatt distinctly remembered wilbur walking outside the shack, where schlatt was outside fixing a creaky stair on the porch(he wanted a hobby, so what? let a ram hybrid fix a fucking stair for once in his life instead of being enslaved by a literal hybrid killer). wilbur was sputtering about how the boys slept on rocks for months, and they needed to do something about it.

“will, just give them my bed, i don’t give a shit.”

“but you- wait, really?” wilbur stopped. “we don’t have anymore mattresses.” 

“i’ll take the couch until we can find one, as long as you go back inside and leave me be. what’s a ram gotta do to get some fucking peace and quiet around here?”

“you’re literally hammering a nail into wood, ram boy. i’d hardly call that peace and quiet.” tommy perked up as he and tubbo walked outside and stood by wilbur.

schlatt glared at the gremlin, then looked back to wilbur. “i’m starting to reconsider this-“

“NOPE! no take backs, schlatt, you have willingly given up your bed for these two lovely boys!” wilbur stood between both boys and wrapped his arms around them, grinning.

“wow, really, schlatt? thank you!” tubbo beamed. 

schlatt smiled at that. the kid really was a ray of sunshine compared to his counterpart. tubbo managed to light up a room whenever he walked in, and he managed to take the brunt of tommy’s, though harmless, teasing. 

and though tommy managed to get under schlatts skin more often than not, schlatt had an admiration for the kid. he could definitely hold his own in a fight and had some incredible intimidation tactics. when tommy argued that beating the shit out of someone with a stick was absolutely an intimidation tactic, schlatt knew this kid had potential.

that didn’t mean the kid didn’t make schlatt angry 95% of the time, though.

“guess i really am sleeping in your bed now, huh big man?” tommy grinned wildly. he started running back towards the house.

“last one to schlatts bed is a creeper, tubbo!” 

“hey, w-wait! i’m not a creeper!” tubbo laughed and ran after him. wilbur and schlatt had no idea what a creeper was, but they just shrugged it off. 

whatever made the boys happy.

now, schlatt wasn’t sure if the boys being happy was worth a bad back.

he got up off the couch, still panting. 

another fucking nightmare. the fifth one this week.

speaking of the devil, schlatt could still feel the masked mans hands gripping his throat, grabbing his horns-

god. it was hard to breathe.

he could never escape it.

schlatt walked out onto the porch, feeling the cool night air breach his skin. he stood on the stair that he had fixed a few weeks back, testing its creakiness.

not a peep. schlatt smiled, feeling satisfied with his work. it felt good to be productive, when he felt so helpless with the thought of nightmare constantly breathing down his back-

the front door opened, ripping schlatt from his thoughts.

“schlatt? it’s late.” wilbur stood in the door way, rubbing his eye. “i heard someone open the door. are you okay?”

“wilbur, go back to sleep.” schlatt took a step toward his friend. “i just needed some fresh air, i’m fine.”

“did you have a bad dream?” wilbur was now more alert, looking concerned. he often refrained from saying the main hunters name around schlatt, as to not set the ram on edge. 

“well- no- i mean... yeah.” schlatt sighed. he really didn’t need wilbur worrying about him right now. “but it’s fine! it wasn’t that bad, i just needed a minute outside. i swear, will, i’m okay.”

wilbur didn’t respond, walking past schlatt and sitting on the steps of the porch. he patted the right side, motioning schlatt to sit down.

schlatt followed.

“you know you can tell me anything, right?” wilbur said, looking off to the distance.

“of course, will, i would never hide anything from you-“

“then why are you lying to me?” wilbur turned to the ram, his eyes looking glassy. schlatt tensed.

“wilbur, i would never-“

“schlatt, you’ve been having nightmares for years,” wilbur didn’t even recognize he said the word, but schlatt pushed the panic down in favor of the panic he felt for wilbur. “you hardly get any sleep! i know you said you were okay with letting the boys take your bed, but i can move them, i can- i can find another mattress-“

“wil-“ schlatt tried to say.

“SCHLATT, STOP!” wilbur yelled. schlatt flinched. “youve been overworking yourself and you’re clearly not okay even when you say you are! recovery is more than just physical wounds, schlatt, but i can’t help you if you don’t tell me when you feel bad! i want to help, i want- i want to..” 

wilbur trailed off, shoulders sinking. he had tried so hard not to cry, but once the tears started to fall, they couldn’t stop.

schlatt tried to say something, anything, but he couldn’t find the words. 

in the back of his mind, hands wrapped around his throat.

he ignored it.

schlatt laid his head on wilburs shoulder, which wilbur returned by putting his head on top of schlatts.

“will, i...” schlatt tried to form the right words.

“this whole communication thing, it was never really a big thing back in my village, and it was certainly never a thing with the hunters. i mostly just kept to myself and i learned to survive that way.” schlatt moved up and lightly grabbed wilburs shoulders.

“thanks to you, i’ve been able to open up more than i ever have before. it’s not easy, but i’m trying. god, will, i’m trying. i want to tell you everything, i swear. it’s just-“ 

schlatt closed his eyes and thought of nightmare, his hands, the force pinning him to the ground-

he opened his eyes.

wilbur was staring into them, tears flowing freely.

schlatt didn’t even realize he was crying too.

“i know you want to help, will. the best thing you can do right now? keep doing what you’re doing. you and, and the boys, goddamnit- 

you’re the best thing to ever happen to me. 

just stay here, with me. that’s what will help me.”

wilbur sat there, looking at schlatt for a minute, before letting out a sob and wrapping his arms around schlatt.

schlatt gladly returned the gesture, holding wilbur close. 

for a moment, they just existed.

schlatt could breathe again.

“i’m never going to leave you, you hear me?” wilbur said, head buried into the crook of schlatts neck. “you and me, we’ve only had each other for so long and i’ll be damned if that ever changes. im here for you. schlatt, i’ve...

i’ve got you.”

schlatt said nothing for a minute, simply breathing and holding his friend.

the tears were becoming more and more sparse as schlatt allowed himself to relax in wilburs arms. 

the front door was still open, and they could hear the younger boys’ steady breathing as they slept.

tommy was snoring lightly.

this is exactly where schlatt was meant to be.

“i’ve got you too, man.” schlatt said quietly, not moving.

wilbur nodded. he didn’t have the energy to speak anymore. 

“alright, cmon bud.” schlatt said, lifting wilbur up, wrapping his friend’s arm around his shoulders in a position that felt all too familiar to the both of them. “let’s get you to bed.”

“take my mattress.” wilbur said quietly, leaning into schlatt. “i’ll take the couch.”

“will, no, i’m not gonna let you-“ schlatt was cut off by wilburs skeptical stare, as if he had just forgotten their talk.

schlatt sighed. 

“fine, but only if you stay in the bed too.”

wilbur nearly laughed out loud. “schlatt, we’re both over six feet tall, there’s no way we’ll both fit-“

“goddamnit, wilbur, will you just go to fucking sleep or do i have to throw you into the fucking bed?”

“alright, alright, i’m going.” wilbur chuckled as they both reached the bed and climbed in.

they laid in silence for a second, both staring at the wooden ceiling.

“you know, will, this is kinda gay-“

“i’m going to the couch.” wilbur started to get up before schlatt cackled and grabbed his arm, dragging him back onto the mattress.

wilbur got settled in again and sighed. he waited for schlatts breathing to even out before he closed his eyes and muttered a small goodnight to his friend.

“goodnight, wilbur.” schlatt responded, smiling.

“motherfucker, go to sleep!” wilbur whacked him with his pillow, which only resulted in more laughter from the ram. 

even if wilbur and schlatt got less sleep than normal that night, they both slept better knowing they were going to be okay.

after all, they had each other.


	7. prequel part 6: they really do be fighting tho

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dream recalls a hybrid he sparred while he lived in nightmares palace.
> 
> meanwhile, georgenotfound has joined the game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is my second chapter within 4 hours because i simply cannot stop when inspiration strikes
> 
> i brought in a lot more characters than i expected for this chapter. i will have to update the tags (i still don’t understand how they work lmaooo)
> 
> also, the spanish song quackity sings is a real song he sang on a stream one time! it’s called no hay novedad by los cadetes de linares.
> 
> enjoy!

dream sat by the fire, warmth tickling his hands. sapnap had gone off about an hour ago to get more firewood.

the boys had been traveling across the lands for nearly a year and a half, and still had seen so sign of george.

dream was beginning to worry that they would never find their old friend, that something might’ve happened to him.

he held his mask and stared at it. dreams father would’ve told him if something happened to george during one of his... diplomatic... missions.

right?

dreams father never told him much about his trips when he wasn’t allowed to come along. his father always came home covered in dirt, ash, and blood. 

as dream got older, his father would bring a random hybrid kept in their care to spar with him.

he remembered his father often using the phrase “pathetic hybrid” when referring to those dream would meet. he never understood why his father used that phrase.

dream would look into the terrified eyes of the hybrid he would face that day, and he would try and crack jokes and make the hybrid laugh as he sparred.

he would go as easy as he could on them before his father got mad. 

after the match was over, the hybrid would get dragged back to their holding cell, and dream would visit them in the late hours of the night. he apologized profusely, brought them food and would talk to them for hours, hoping to give them company.

he remembered one specific hybrid he sparred with, a duck-human mix.

clay had ventured down to the cells long after his father was asleep, carrying a plate of food he grabbed from the chefs in the dining hall.

he walked past the different cells, looking at each of the hybrids in search for the duck.

he noticed a particular fox hybrid that he had sparred with numerous times. fundy was an interesting hybrid to clay- he was relentless and would never quit in the face of a challenge. clay always had the most fun sparring with him, though he wished fundy, like all the hybrids, could be free.

he didn’t understand why they were all held here.

fundy was asleep as clay walked by, his back facing the son of nightmare.

clay gave him a silent goodnight before continuing his search for the duck.

three minutes into his search, he noticed the hybrid in the cell to his left.

clay turned to look at the duck. he looked so small in the cell he was being held in. he was crouched in the corner, eyes closed.

the hybrid was holding his bandaged wing, quietly singing a song clay didn’t recognize, something in spanish. 

“no, no te preocupes... por mi aquí todo sigue igual...como cuando estabas tu... su es cierto que no hay calor ni-“ the hybrid opened his eyes and stopped, noticing clay standing above him.

“quackity, right?” clay asked, sitting down in front of the duck.

“y-yeah. how’s it goin?” quackity sat up straight, holding his bandaged wing close.

“i should probably be asking you that.” clay smiled. “i’m sorry you had to go through that today. i brought you some food. i don’t really know how much you guys get to eat down here, so...” 

he slid the plate under the food entrance into quackity’s cell.

quackity took the food immediately, and started digging into the meat.

“thank you,” quackity said between bites, “though i’m not sure why you’re doing this.”

clay cocked his head a little bit. “i always visit my sparring partners after a battle.”

“that’s not what i meant.” quackity put down the meat. “why do you spare us?”

“i- i’m not sure what you mean-“

“the hunters steal us from our homes and put us in these cages. they torture us, they control us, no one gets let out. i’ve only ever seen one person get out and he...” quackity trailed off, thinking of his friend with the ram horns. somehow, he broke out of his cell and ran in the dead hours of the night.

quackity wished the boy with the horns came back for him.

clay was silent, thinking about his father and the trips he constantly went on.

“but you’re different. you spar with us, sure, but you always come back down and treat us and help us.” quackity said, looking clay straight in the eyes.

“why? why do you even give a rats ass about us? aren’t we nothing to hunters like you?”

clay looked at quackity. the duck looked so broken, yet so full of passion.

“i can’t speak on behalf of my father. i’m not sure why the hunters do this, or why he keeps you here. but you’re all still people to me, hybrids or not. i cant free you. trust me, i would if i could.” clay thought about the repercussions of letting everyone go right now, what his father would do to him...

clay wouldnt survive.

“but i’m not a hunter, quackity. not yet. honestly...

i’m not sure if i want to be.”

quackity leaned his head back onto the wall, sighing.

“you’re a talented fighter. take the opportunities you have as a full human and... and get out of here, man.” 

clay sighed.

“i can’t. my father...”

“is a monster! cant you see what he’s doing? he’s fucking killing us!” quackity sat back up, rage in his voice.

“you can stop it at the source. you can run while you can and save us all. please... get out of here.” quackity pleaded with the boy facing him.

clay stared into the hybrids eyes, feeling conflicted. his father, the one who had raised him from the start-

that wasn’t even true. his father didn’t even care about him beyond being the heir to the hunter throne. the assistant hunters, chefs and maids, everyone working in the palace took care of him.

his father didn’t give a damn about him.

clay stood, balling his hands.

“i’ll do what i can. for you, for fundy... 

i’ll save you all someday.”

quackity smiled and closed his eyes.

“if you ever see a hybrid with ram horns... tell him he’s a fucking asshole for not coming back for me, and i’m eagerly waiting for my prince charming to come back!” quackity dramatically put his hand to his forehead, acting like a damsel in distress.

clay laughed. “i’ll make sure to tell him. goodbye, quackity.”

clay walked back through the cell hallway, making his way up the stairs and to his room before laying on his bed and dozing off-

“DREAM!”

dream woke up to sapnap frantically shaking him.

“sap- what-“

“the hunters are here, dream! we’ve gotta go!”

“oh, shi-“

george ran through the woods towards the commotion, sword gripped tightly in his hand.

he could hear the sounds of his fellow freedom fighters clashing against the hunters, and he was scared he would be too late.

everything he fought for could be ruined tonight.

he reached the commotion, hid behind a tree, and did a head count.

eret was leading the pack, fighting the head hunter, making sure to note that it wasn’t nightmare. thankfully, unless nightmare had cut his hair, he wasn’t anywhere close to today’s battle.

eret was holding up nicely, dodging and striking. george taught him well. he would take the hunter down soon.

skeppy and bad were battling side by side, striking down every hunter they found. those two were practically inseparable. 

niki and karl were shooting at the remaining hunters from the trees with incredible accuracy. karl had an arrow in his arm. 

not enough to be lethal, george noted in his head, ill tend to it later.

in the distance, george saw an unfamiliar figure in a white headband watching in the distance. 

george was about to investigate further when he saw the main hunter push eret down and run away from the battle. 

“oh no you don’t!” george began to run after the main hunter. 

even in the night, george could tell this hunter was unusual. he was wearing a green hoodie instead of the typical black hunter attire.

the hunter tripped, and george seized his opportunity.

george sprinted faster than he had ever ran before and tackled the hunter.

the two wrestled for a minute before george managed to flip the hunter over and pin him down.

the hunter stopped thrashing after he was flipped over.

“...george?”

george loosened his grip a bit. 

this wasn’t a hunter. he had a smiley face mask.

“i’m sorry...do i know you?”

the not-hunter took off his mask.

george gasped.

“clay?!” 

dream smiled.

“george!” 

george immediately got off of his friend and hugged him, dream returning the hug.

“where have you been, clay?”

“...my father wouldn’t let me leave the palace. i ran away.”

george pulled away from dream.

“so, you’re not a hunter anymore?”

dream shook his head. “i want to take my father down. he’s gone too far.”

george nearly exploded with excitement.

“clay! you have to join my group of freedom fighters! we’ve been working to take the hunters down and free the hybrids!” 

“man, is that whos been trying to kill me? they’re all so good! maybe i should get a different mask...” dream looked down at his smiley face mask.

“no, no, don’t get rid of the mask! it kinda suits you, clay.”

“oh! i go by dream now. i kinda have to lay low while i’m on the run.” dream put his mask back on.

“dream, huh? i like it.” george sighed, then looked back to the battle.

“you should come help us take down these hunters!”

“i’m not sure, i’ll need to grab sapnap. i told him to stay out of the fight while i-“

“SAPNAP’S HERE? wh- where is he?” george spun his head around, looking for his old friend.

“relax, george. he’s out of the battle. i told him to watch from afar and only interfere if i-“

“GEORGEEEEEEEEE!” the man in the white headband ran up to the two fighters and tackled george, both of them laughing and they hugged on the ground.

“sapnap! hey, man, it’s been forever! i thought i saw you in the woods near the battle!”

“george i missed you and dream soooooooo much you have no idea how lonely it’s been since everything happened i can’t believe it’s you-“

“woah, sap, take a breath.” dream chuckled as he pulled sapnap off of george.

all three of the boys hugged, feeling content that their group was back together again.

“george, what have you been doing since we’ve been gone?”

“i formed a group of freedom fighters after we all went our separate ways. no offense, dream, but your dad sucks.”

“none taken, trust me.” dream laughed. he was so, so happy that george was safe.

“dream, how about we join george and his freedom fighters? i’ve been waiting so long to kick some hunter ass!” sapnap took out his sword, eyeing it with excitement.

“i think this is the perfect opportunity, dream.” george laid a hand on his friends shoulder. “with you on our side, we’re sure to take nightmare down.”

dream knew this was the only shot he had. when it was just him and sapnap... they wouldn’t have stood a chance against his father and all of the hunters.

but with the freedom fighters, they could start to gain some numbers. 

there was one last contact dream knew he needed to win...

but he had no idea if the pig hybrid was even alive.

that would be for another day, though. 

now, dream was just excited to have his team together again.

“let’s do it.”

sapnap and george cheered. things were starting to look up for all of them.

they started to head back towards the fight, which had ended in a freedom fighter victory. 

george could see the last of the hunters running off, while niki tended to karl’s arrow wound.

“george, who was the tall guy i was fighting? he really knows how to use a sword.” dream questioned, looking at george.

“oh, you’re talking about eret! he’s really good. you two should spar sometime. i’m guessing your dad had you train constantly while you were stuck in the palace.”

“yeah, there were no other humans my age, so dad had me spar with hybrids.” dream looked down and rubbed his arm, thinking of quackity and fundy.

“hey.” george stopped walking and looked at dream. “we’re going to save every single hybrid in there, you hear me? my fighters and i haven’t worked this hard to stop now.” 

sapnap muttered some words of encouragement behind dream, which made him smile.

“yeah. yeah, we got this! now we have the numbers to finally take my dad down. you have no idea how long sap and i were looking for you, george.” dream exhaled as they began to walk again, quickly reaching the freedom fighters.

“oh... you might have to take your mask off. so i can explain who you are.” george said, pointing at dreams mask.

“oh! right.” dream took off his mask and held it at his side. 

as the three approached the freedom fighters, optimism bloomed in dreams chest.

things were going to be okay.


	8. prequel part 7: flimsy ass sticks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> schlatt and tommy end up in the woods and encounter a possible ally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it’s certainly been a while! i apologize for my absence, my work has been piling up and i’ve spent the rest of my free time finishing my unus annus binge. 
> 
> well, unus annus is gone now (rip, memento mori) so now i can spend the rest of my time writing! 
> 
> thank you for all the kudos i’ve received while i’ve been away. i appreciate you all <3

schlatt was going to lose it.

wilbur had sent him and tommy on a mission to “grab supplies”. really, wilbur had his Tommy and Schlatt Arguing Fix of The Day and needed him out of the house.

that was six hours ago. and it was night now.

now, schlatt and tommy were in a part of the forest they had never explored before.

they were lost.

and schlatt was stuck with tommy.

was this hell? was this the part where the devil himself would finally come to claim schlatts soul-

“schlatt!!! big man!!!” tommy came up from behind him, holding a suspicious amount of sticks. several of them were falling out of his hands, making a trail.

no, the devil claiming him now would be far too merciful.

“do you think i could make a new crossbow entirely out of these flimsy sticks? surely if i put them all close together and tie them with enough vigor,” tommy puffed out his chest as he emphasized the last word, “i could make it really powerful.”

“are you kidding me? you might as well snap those in half now. those fucking things wouldnt last a day.” schlatt waved him off and started walking in a direction that seemed the most familiar to him.

they’ve got to get home now, or schlatt might just actually die.

but not before he kills wilbur for making him come out in the middle of fucking nowhere with the gremlin child.

first the motherfucker takes his bed, and then his sanity.

“hey! i bet i could make a better fucking crossbow than you ever could.” tommy retorted, racing to match schlatts pace.

“unlike you, i actually have experience in woodworking. remember when i fixed the fucking stairs?” schlatt asked. “a bunch of sticks would not suddenly make a crossbow. it would just fall apart with the first shot!”

“excuse you, ram boy!” tommy watched with satisfaction as schlatts face contorted upon hearing the nickname. “i actually have faith in myself and my crafting abilities! i made my old crossbow and i could definitely do it again.”

“yeah right, you didn’t even have to fucking guts to shoot me when we met-“

a rustle in the trees.

schlatt stops, whipping around to try and find the sound.

“wha-“ tommy starts. schlatt cuts him off, sticking an arm out in front of him.

schlatt was always cautious when it came to mysterious things in the woods. while wilbur was more open minded -that was how they ended up with tommy and tubbo, after all- the ram hybrid was never eager to trust anything that crossed his path.

nothing out there seemed like good news to schlatt. he hadn’t seen a lot of good news, ever.

“be quiet. somethings here.” schlatt murmured sharply, trying to find the sound before the sound found him.

there was a minute of silence, tension filling the air as the two boys stood still. 

tommy was still holding his sticks, trying not to make a sound as he saw the gears turning in schlatts head.

god, who knows what was in these woods? schlatt and wilbur had never come to this area. there could be so many hunters lurking, which definitely wasn’t ideal for a hybrid and a child.

schlatt slowly took out his knife. he eyed the surroundings. 

trees, trees, and more trees. 

a figure, squatting on the branch. it was too dark for schlatt to make out anything other than an outline.

schlatt gasped and raised the knife, pointing it toward the figure. his left arm stayed in front of tommy as his only line of defense.

whatever the figure was, it looked at least part human. 

“...hey,” schlatt said with a shaky voice, “we’re not looking for trouble. we were just about to head back the way we came. if you let us pass, we would really be-“

“...you.” the figure murmured, cocking their head to the side.

“i know you.”

schlatt couldn’t place the voice, but something felt familiar about this figure.

“you know... me?” schlatt questioned, keeping the knife raised. 

“i do. we never met, but i know exactly who you are, ram.”

the figure jumped down from their branch, landing in front of schlatt and tommy.

tommy jumped a bit at the sudden movement, but stayed quiet. 

schlatt stood his ground as he examined the figure.

green hoodie. not a hunter.

the figure stood up properly, dusted themselves off, and looked up at the boys.

jesus christ.

a hunter mask?

tommy gasped, dropping his sticks. schlatt moved in front of tommy, fully blocking him from the hunters reach.

schlatts knife laid a millimeter from the hunters chest.

fuck. since when were these guys going undercover?

schlatt didn’t know what to do. there was only one hunter, sure, but one hunter was powerful on their own.

this hunter knew him. chances are, he knew everything nightmare did.

all schlatt knew was that he had to protect tommy. this asshole kid had already seen too much.

“look, i’m... im not here to hurt you.” the hunter chuckled and put his hands in the air. “i keep forgetting about the mask. sorry about that.”

schlatt eyed the mask, saying nothing.

the mask was different. a smiley face.

this wasn’t a hunter.

“i should probably take this thing off and explain, huh?” the figure said.

“yeah, thatd be pretty fucking nice!” tommy piped up from behind schlatt.

god, the ram had never wanted to kick a child in the face more than he did right now.

“don’t mind the kid.” schlatt said, voice flat. “you said you knew me. who are you? an ex hunter or something?”

“well...” the figure took off the mask.

“you could say that.” 

schlatt nearly collapsed right then and there.

he knew those stupid, piercing green eyes anywhere.

but it wasn’t nightmare. nightmare never had short hair.

instead, schlatt was faced with a kid about his age. one with bright eyes and fewer scars than his captor.

schlatt also felt the panic creeping up his limbs. this wasn’t nightmare... but it was. in a way.

wait, this couldn’t be...

“my name is clay, but i go by dream now.”

schlatt couldn’t fucking believe it. he’d never even met the kid.

until now.

“...nightmares son?” 

a beat of silence. 

“i wish i wasn’t.” dream looked away, breaking his eye contact with schlatt.

schlatt felt rage mask his panic.

“i don’t understand. what are you doing out here without hunter gear? you’re awfully fucking far from your precious castle.” ice coated schlatts words, feeling remnants of old memories find their way into his mind.

“i...i left that life. it’s not who i am anymore.” dream looked back at schlatt.

“when my father came home that night, your horn in his hand...”

schlatts breath hitched.

tommy turned to look at his friend. the older ram, no matter how annoying he was, was a role model for tommy. he was such an incredible fighter. 

tommy remembered how schlatt pointed to his broken horn the day they met, his crossbow switching between the hybrid and wilbur. he knew they weren’t hunters, but seeing that point of weakness on the hybrid let tommy know that they wouldn’t hurt him or tubbo. 

it’s what made him decide to trust these men with his and his brothers lives.

seeing schlatts expression change from bitter to... tommy couldnt describe it if he tried.

conflicted? overwhelmed? 

wounded.

“i knew i had to leave then. what he’s doing... it’s not right and it’s never been right.” dream finished, trying to reassure the hybrid.

schlatt said nothing. he looked down, fists balling up. he felt his nails dig into his skin.

he didn’t care.

“well, if you’re really against the hunters, i’m glad.” tommy stepped out from behind schlatt, putting a hand on his shoulder. “those guys are nothing but trouble, and i’ve been in a lot of trouble.”

dream laughed. “i’ve been in my own fair amount of trouble. look, i’m glad i spotted you both, because you’re the best people to tell.” dream looked around, presumably checking for anyone around.

“i’ve got a group of freedom fighters. we’re training to take my father down within the next few months.”

schlatt snapped his head back up.

“dude, are you kidding? how many fighters do you have?”

“well, eight, counting me. but we’ve got more people on the way-“

“EIGHT???” schlatt yelled. “eight people aren’t going to do shit against your shitty dad and hundreds of hunters!”

“hey, i’ve been formally trained for several years, and my friends have been fighting the hunters for months and doing really well, alright?” dream protested.

“no, no, you don’t- you don’t get it. you didn’t see everything i saw, you weren’t put in a cage like i was, you weren’t fucking TORTURED LIKE I WAS!” schlatt put his hands on his head, gripping his hair and breathing hard. 

fucking hell, what was this idiot doing? that wasn’t nearly enough people to fight against a maniac and his barbarians.

the panic was back.

tommy made sure that he was by schlatts side, trying to get his friend to calm down.

dream stood there in front of them. in front of the one person who actually got him to go out and do something impactful with his life. 

shit.

“hey.” dream said, moving ever so slightly towards schlatt. the ram looked up, the slightest feeling of tears reaching his eyes.

“the only reason i’m doing this... i finally saw part the corruption and lies of my father. i saw the hybrids in the cages. when he came home that night, i knew i was too late for you, but maybe i could save someone else.

just knowing i could help one hybrid... that means the world to me.

i promise you, nightmare will get what’s coming for him.” dream held his hand out to schlatt. to the reason for all of this.

schlatt hesitated, staring at the son of the man who ruined him. 

he took dreams hand.

“i’m not asking you to join my fighters.” dream insisted. “all i’m asking is... 

have some hope. 

things are gonna be okay eventually.” 

the man in the green hoodie let go of schlatts hand, put his mask back on, and turned back the way he came.

suddenly, dream stopped and pivoted on his heels, facing the boys again.

“one more thing...

quackity says you’re an asshole for not saving him sooner, and he’s waiting for his prince charming to come get him.”

schlatt short circuited.

“wha- quackity? you talked to him? is he safe?” 

“no, he’s okay, but i couldn’t free him. it would cause too much suspicion. he needed to stay at the castle in order for my plans to work.” 

schlatt cursed, looking at the ground.

“rest assured though, he’ll be the first one i free when i break into that goddamn castle and take the hunters down.” dream said.

“yeah, you better keep your fucking promise, mask boy.” schlatt said, crossing his arms.

dream laughed, and turned back on his path away from the boys.

just like that, he was gone.

schlatt and tommy stood in silence, the rams hand still in the position it was when he was holding dreams.

“hope.” tommy repeated, looking down at all his forgotten sticks.

“yeah. hope.” schlatt turned to the smaller boy, his eyebrows still furrowed.

a beat of silence. the tension fades.

schlatt could breathe.

“we should probably get home. wilbur and tubbo are probably worried sick.” tommy nudged the hybrid. 

“you’re probably right. you know, it’s wills fault we were even out here in the first place.” schlatt gave tommy a stupid grin.

tommy picked up what the ram was putting down and returned the smile.

“he said we ‘needed supplies’... it would be a shame if we happened to forget said supplies...” tommy said with an evil glint in his eye.

schlatt cackled.

“oh, you gremlin, he would hate that!” 

“do you reckon we should amp up our bickering when we get back?”

“you’re saying that like i wasn’t already planning it.”

“big man! that’s what i’m talking about!” tommy cheered.

schlatt smiled as he and the younger boy started to follow the trail of fallen sticks. 

have hope, dream had said.

yeah. schlatt could do that.


	9. prequel part 8: tubbo moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tubbo discovers something about himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY some tubbo action happening up in this bitch!!!! i’ve been neglecting this poor boy for too long.
> 
> also??? how is the war TOMORROW and why do i have to be in class while it’s happening i am so mad!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> (i dropped a dreamsmp lmanberg war reference in this chapter. first person to find it gets a smiley face from me :))
> 
> anyways, enjoy and leave a kudos and a comment if you liked it!

tubbo always had a feeling that he was different than the other kids in the village.

the thing is, he never knew why.

he and tommy always preferred to stay together for as long as they could remember. 

tommy never seemed to get along with the other kids. he was too loud, too brash, too mean for them. tommy was always just too much.

but not for tubbo.

tubbo was quiet. the other kids thought he was weird for never speaking, for sitting by the flowers and looking at the bees. 

tubbo was always, always quiet.

but not with tommy. 

tubbo was the only person tommy actually enjoyed being around, and who wouldn’t criticize his every move. tommy was the only person who gave tubbo a chance to open up and actually listen to him.

the two had soft spots for each other. literal brothers for as long as they knew how to walk. 

if they were only comfortable around each other, why ruin that?

and so they stayed together. kids turned into young teens. isolated from the rest of their village, save for their caretakers.

and as far as the village knew, tubbo was human. they were all humans.

so why did he always feel so weird?

when the hunters came, tommy woke tubbo up with panic in his eyes. they ran out of the house a split second before it was set ablaze.

they didn’t know what happened to the other village members. they didn’t care. they just ran and ran and ran.

tubbo didn’t get tired. somehow, he felt like he could run for ages.

until tommy collapsed from exhaustion, and tubbo sat him up to lean on the nearest tree and they held each other while they slept, hoping they would live until morning.

tubbo didn’t question why he suddenly had enhanced stamina.

six months.

six months of running and living off of wild berries and sleeping on rocks and crafting shitty wooden tools.

and when tommy had gotten scraped by a thorn, he didn’t tell tubbo until it had gotten infected and he had woken up to tommy crying in his sleep, wound exposed and bleeding. 

and when tubbo felt something wash over him, and when he placed his hand on tommy’s arm, and when he closed his eyes and concentrated, and when he opened his eyes to see yellow power leaking from his fingers, closing the would and easing tommy’s pain, he didn’t question it.

tommy never said a thing about it. 

tubbo called his power the yellow. he didn’t know where it came from or why he had it, but he knew that this was it.

this is what made him different.

maybe he wasn’t entirely human.

tubbo woke up one morning in schlatts old bed, light leaking through the cracked window onto his face.

tommy was already up, tubbo assumed. his brother was nowhere to be seen, probably outside bothering schlatt with whatever he happened to be doing.

tubbo had stirred for a minute before feeling a subtle pain in his back.

scratch that, actually. two subtle pains. 

not enough to bother him, but just enough for him to notice something was different 

and when tubbo went to the bathroom, lifted his shirt and turned around, he saw two parallel lumps on his back. 

well. this wasn’t normal.

but it wasn’t urgent, or too particularly painful. so tubbo decided he would leave them alone, and changed into a nice thick jacket in order to conceal the lumps properly.

tubbo only got concerned when the lumps got bigger. and more painful. 

everything felt so heavy.

it had felt like weeks since tubbo was able to sleep on his back. in fact, he couldn’t sleep more than two hours most nights.

luckily, wilbur and schlatt seemed to not notice any changes. it’s not like tubbo really did change. he’s always been quiet around new people, and he could always just give them a tubbo smile and start talking about bees if anyone raised questions. he started to spend more time alone by the stream near their shack, admiring the bees and testing out his yellow and keeping the pain at bay. he had them fooled.

tommy was a different story. the taller boy knew tubbo too well.

tommy didn’t say anything at first. he knew tubbo would open up to him when he felt like he needed to. he would just stay near tubbo, or lean up against him in the spots he knew tubbo was comfortable with. 

but when tubbo began disappearing to the stream, tommy got concerned.

the taller boy followed the beaten path on one sunny day that led to the stream. he passed through thick bushes and tall trees, pushing away leaves that fell in front of his face.

when he reached the clearing, tommy immediately scanned the area for his brother.

tubbo was sitting right by the water, back turned to tommy. he was curled in around himself, arms wrapped around his knees. 

tubbo was testing his yellow, watching it flow between his fingers. it felt so familiar and comforting, just enough to distract him from the pain in his back. 

it was still so heavy, weighing him down.

when he heard a branch break behind him, tubbo sat up, startled. his yellow disappeared and his back screamed at him.

tubbo didn’t say a word as he turned around and saw tommy standing there, concern lining his features.

“hey, big man.” tommy said. “you alright?”

tubbo hesitated.

“yeah, i’m.. im good.”

“really? i’m not so sure you are.” tommy moved towards tubbo and sat down beside him. “you’ve been acting more distant than usual. and don’t tell me you’re fine, because i know you haven’t been sleeping.”

shit.

the last thing tubbo wanted was for anyone to worry about him, and yet here tommy was. tommy knew everything about his brother, just like tubbo knew how everything about tommy.

he knew he couldn’t hide everything from tommy forever. 

but he was so, so scared that tommy would look at him differently because of this. 

tubbo was different. he didn’t know what he was, but he was different.

“tubbo?” tommy asked after a beat. “cmon, man, talk to me.”

more silence. tommy sighed and looked away.

“i’m sorry. you don’t have to say anything...if you don’t want to. i know how you are with these things. but if somethings wrong with schlatt or wilbur, then you need to tell me, because i swear to fucking god-“

“tommy, i don’t think i’m fully human.” tubbo interrupted, grabbing tommy’s arm.

tommy turned back to tubbo, eyes wide.

“i...what?”

“look.” tubbo let go of his brother and held up his hand. he closed his eyes and willed the yellow into existence. he moved his fingers just how he always practiced.

he opened his eyes and saw tommy staring at his hand, mouth agape.

oh god.

“you... tubbo, this is...”

tubbo braced for rejection.

“so... cool!”

what?

“you can do MAGIC! i’ve only heard about this type of stuff in old village tales! i mean, i knew it was real because angels and demons exist and stuff but you? tubbo, that’s amazing!” tommy got closer to tubbos hand, examining the yellow.

oh. of course.

why did tubbo ever doubt tommy? 

this was his best friend, his brother.

he would never be angry about something like this.

“you...you really like it?” tubbo cocked his head and smiled.

tommy laughed.

“of course i do, big man! what else can you do?” 

“i mean, i don’t really know. i think i can heal injuries... remember when you got scraped by that thorn really bad?”

“yeah, that really fucking hurt, man! i just kinda woke up one day and it was gone-“ tommy stopped, realizing what had happened. he held his arm where the cut was. he could still feel phantom pains every now and then.

“you never told me about it, but i knew you were in pain. somehow i knew if i just... touched it, it would go away. that was the first time.” tubbo said, waving the yellow away.

“you healed me.” tommy said under his breath. this was all such new information to him, but he was happy tubbo trusted him enough to tell him.

“tubbo, i’m proud of you. you can do magic, man! but you know you didn’t need to keep this from me, right?” 

tubbo sighed. “yeah, yeah. i know. but...

that’s not all.”

“that’s not all? tubbo, what-“

tubbo took off his jacket and revealed the two lumps in his back.

tommy’s eyebrows furrowed, looking at tubbos back.

“i don’t know what these are, tommy. they started small, but they’ve gotten bigger and they hurt. i cant sleep because they hurt so bad, and i’m scared that they’re going to hurt me more-“

“hey, hey, big man, it’s alright!” tommy tried to comfort his brother. “could you let me look at them closer?”

tubbo hesitated, then nodded. this was his brother. of course he would trust him.

tommy looked at the lumps for a minute, before noticing something think poking out of one of them. he lightly grazed over it with his finger.

tubbo hissed at the contact, drawing away from tommy.

it definitely wasn’t a hair.

oh, man. it was a feather.

“ah! sorry, tubbo, i forgot that hurt you. but you’ve got something... coming out of one of the lumps.” tommy wasn’t sure how to tell tubbo he’s got feathers protruding from his back.

“what? that wasn’t there yesterday...”tubbo trailed off, thinking. “what is it?”

“i think... i think it’s a feather, big man.”

tubbo stilled. oh fuck.

“if my hybrid knowledge is correct, tubbo, you might be growing wings.” tommy said, reminding himself of the tales the village elders used to tell of hybrids and humans with wings.

“...no shit, huh? wings. really?” tubbo said. 

it all made sense, in a weird way. two parallel lumps that grew, sudden stamina, yellow healing magic...

tubbo was definitely not human.

“damn, this means you can fly and i can’t! what kinda bullshit is this?” tommy pouted and crossed his arms. “i certainly don’t have any magic, either. this sucks.”

tubbo laughed as he put his jacket back on. 

“you might now have magic or wings, but you could still beat me in a fight.” tubbo figured it would be good to give tommy an ego boost before his brother continued to sulk anymore.

and he was right. tommy brightened up immediately.

“you’re damn right, big man!” tommy stood up and held a hand out to tubbo.

“what do you say we go back to the shack and test out some PVP? one new rule though, no magic.” tommy gave tubbo his signature crooked smile.

tubbo laughed, grabbed tommy’s hand, and stood up. 

“sounds like a plan. also... would you mind not telling wilbur and schlatt about this? i don’t want them to think differently of me.” 

tommy frowned, letting go of his brothers hand.

“of course, tubbo. this isn’t my secret to tell. but you do know they won’t think any differently of you, right? i mean... schlatts literally a hybrid. i’m sure he’d be overjoyed to have another non human in the shack.”

“i know... i just don’t think i’m ready yet. maybe when my wings finish growing in?”

tommy nodded and wrapped his arm around tubbos shoulders.

“tubbo, i want you to do whatever your heart says you should do. if you need to give yourself time, that’s fine! and if either of those idiots have a problem with it, i’ll kick their asses!”

tubbo laughed. his pain was easing. 

“yeah, yeah. i’ll get around to it when i’m ready.”

“that’s my big man, that’s my tubbo!” tommy cheered, pumping his fist in the air. 

the brothers started to walk back towards the shack.

tubbo felt a little bit lighter. 

soon, he’d be able to float.


	10. prequel part 9: winters careful approach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wilbur wakes up to see winter has arrived. he’s not too excited about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i haven’t been able to focus in my classes all week because of the stupid war i literally watched quackitys entire stream today instead of doing my coursework what am i DOING with my life bro
> 
> i know some people have been asking for some more wilbur centric stuff so here ya go! this is a bit of a lighter chapter and no one cries in this one which is rare!!!
> 
> and good news!!! this should be the last chapter before we shift to the present day and find out the circumstances of wilburs mysterious stabbing event. i’m so excited to write this arc ;)))
> 
> enjoy, leave a kudos and comment if you liked!

wilbur was tired in every sense of the word.

the human had woken up feeling particularly awful today, as the sun was just rising. the first snowfall was rapidly approaching. will liked the snow as much as anyone else, but he really hated the cold.

wilbur was always cold.

he had been dreading this day as soon as the summer heat had begun to dwindle in late september, but honestly, who was counting?

the cold reminded wilbur of the frost hitting his cheeks when he got separated from his family, the snow falling as wilbur started to lose sight of his fathers green robes-

fuck.

this was gonna be a bad day.

wilbur stumbled into the kitchen, making himself some shitty scrambled eggs. he had never really been one for cooking, but he did what he needed to survive. schlatt, however, was actually an excellent cook, much to the humans surprise. the ram hybrid could make a good steak. 

schlatt would always call it the medium rare super soaker steak extravaganza. wilbur had no idea what the fuck that meant, but it was good.

after schlatts horn incident, he stopped cooking as much. sometimes his senses overloaded while he had the stove on and he would have to lie down, giving wilbur half ass instructions on how to make the food.

wilbur would always protest, but he knew they needed to eat. so he would take shitty chicken over no chicken.

when tommy and tubbo came around, schlatt cooked again, often having one of the boys as an assistant. wilbur would smile and sigh when he would walk into the kitchen and see his brothers getting into mini food fights.

will was just glad schlatt could cook again.

but schlatt was still sleeping, and wilbur needed some fucking eggs before he went insane.

so he sat down at the table with his... oh god, were the eggs overcooked?

wilbur took a bite.

yep. overcooked.

he sighed, and pushed the plate away.

maybe he just wouldn’t eat breakfast.

it wasn’t like he had the stomach for it anyway.

wilbur thought about how he never liked the thought of eating as a kid, until his father actually shoved the food in his mouth. will would try not to smile as he chewed the new potato dish techno made that day-

“g’mornin, will.”

wilbur snapped his head up, seeing schlatt in the doorframe, rubbing his eyes.

“...hello, schlatt.”

“you gonna eat those eggs or are you just gonna stare at em?”

“i...” will thought for a second. “no, you can have them. they’re overcooked, though.”

“i don’t give a shit. food is food.” schlatt mumbled as he sat across from the human. wilbur simply slid the plate over to schlatt, who caught it and immediately started to eat.

neither of them said anything for a minute. wilbur turned to look out the window, head resting in his hand.

the snow had started to fall.

wilbur must not have noticed it.

“...it’s snowing.”

“that’s what happens in december, will.” schlatt said, mouth still full of eggs. 

“...it’s cold.”

schlatt stopped chewing, slowly putting his fork down and looking up at wilbur. the realization hit him hard.

“oh, shit. it’s today?”

“no, not... not today. but soon.” wilbur closed his eyes.

“...i’m sorry.”

“you don’t need to apologize. you weren’t even there.”

“i know.”

they sat in silence for a moment, neither of them moving.

wilbur opened his eyes to see schlatt staring at him, concern in his eyes.

“do you want me to take the boys out today? i can... give you some alone time.” schlatt offered.

“to be completely honest, i think alone time would be the worst thing for me right now.” wilbur let out a nervous chuckle.

schlatt smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“how about i start a fire in the fireplace, and we can just hang out? just you and me, for a while...until the gremlins wake up.” 

wilbur knew tommy and tubbo were still sleeping soundly, and would be for another few hours.

“yeah... that sounds nice.” wilbur agreed.

schlatt got up then, and took the plate of eggs with him.

“i don’t think either of us really have an appetite right now, will.” the ram dumped the eggs into the garbage.

wilbur laughed and stood up.

“those eggs were fucking terrible anyways. you know i’m not a good cook, schlatt.”

schlatt hummed in agreement. he walked back over to wilbur and slung an arm around his shoulders.

“let me go put a sweater on or something, and then you and i can just fucking kick back and chill for the day! no stupid teenagers bothering us for the time being.”

“yeah, alright.”

“okay, that should be good! who said i couldn’t make a fire this nice?” 

“i don’t think anyone’s ever said that, schlatt.” wilbur laughed at the ram, who looked awfully proud of his little fire.

“excuse me, will, but i think i did a damn good job here! you should be grateful i’m even doing this for you this early in the morning.” schlatt flopped down on the couch next to wilbur, crossing his arms in a huff.

schlatt had taken the opportunity to put on his favorite sweater, a worn out blue turtleneck. wilbur could say with all honesty that it’s what schlatt looked the best in, simply because of how happy he was when he wore it.

“right, because you’re the expert of fire building.”

“of course i am! do you know what they call me, wilbur? they call me the fire lord!” schlatt exclaimed, shooting his arms up for emphasis.

“no one has EVER called you the fire lord,” wilbur smiled, “and i don’t think i’m going to start now.”

“hey, you dick! have some empathy here.” schlatt lightly shoved wilbur before laughing. “if i want to be the fire lord, i’m gonna be the fucking fire lord!”

“right, right. whatever you say, man.” wilburs amusement trailed off, but he was still smiling as he stared into the fire.

schlatt knew winter was a hard season for wilbur. it was when his whole world turned on his head, and he was forced to learn to fend for himself. 

in the late hours of the night, after a particularly bad dream, wilbur would wake up in a cold sweat and mutter about being cold, hands digging through his hair.

schlatt had figured out the routine after the third... bad dream, which wasn’t long after they met. 

wake up, figure out wilbur was having a bad dream, sit next to him, make sure he was aware of his surroundings, make him count things he could see, hear and feel, hold him until the sun came up, wash, rinse, repeat. 

wilbur was never seen without a big sweater or jacket on, either. he never wanted to be cold, even when the summer sun was blazing down on him.

he never, never wanted to be cold.

“wilbur?”

“...yeah?”

“can you tell me about that potion book you have?”

“you mean the old one that belonged to my dad?” wilbur turned his head towards schlatt. “i mean, i could go get it if you want.”

“that would be nice.”

wilbur stood up and walked out of the room, returning shortly with a large book with a leather cover.

“this... is my dads old potion book. he taught me everything i know about potions and healing.” wilbur sat back down and ran his hand over the cover, the leather feeling the same as it did when his father held him in his lap and wrote in it all those years ago.

“it’s got everything you need to know about potions, from specific ingredients to side effects to locations of origin. it’s been so helpful in my own research.”

“yeah? what’s your favorite potion in there?”

“and why would you want to know that?” wilbur asked, already flipping through the pages.

“i just wanna see in case you get yourself in a bit of trouble, dumbass.” schlatt said, rolling his eyes and scooting closer to wilbur.

“alright, then we should head to the basic healing potion chapter...”

wilbur stirred awake, opening his eyes to see his potion book in a different set of hands. he must’ve fallen asleep while looking at the potion book.

he was laying on schlatts shoulder, the fire still blazing on a few feet in front of them. schlatt was humming a tune wilbur wasn’t sure he recognized.

if it was still snowing, wilbur would have no idea. 

wilbur looked up to see schlatt reading a page that the human had added himself: the potion of night vision.

“...schlatt?”

“hey, man. you fell asleep in the middle of explaining strength potions to me.” schlatt said, not looking up from the page.

“are the boys awake?”

“they woke up not too long ago. they’re in the kitchen making some breakfast for us.” schlatt nodded his head towards the kitchen. “they’re trying to be quiet as to not wake you up, but-“

schlatt was interrupted by the clanging of a pot, then a soft whisper yell from tommy and an apology from tubbo.

wilbur laughed. “you know, you’re reading my work.” 

“yeah, i knew the writing looked different, so i assumed you added some stuff in here. it’s good, man. this is helpful stuff.”

“yeah?” wilbur was flattered. “maybe you should try making a potion for yourself.”

“mmm, i don’t know about that,” schlatt said, looking up at the human. “i’d probably end up killing one of us.”

“you could always try. i don’t see any harm in that.”

“...maybe one day, when you nearly get yourself killed. then i’ll have to be the new wilbur.”

“the new- you don’t need to be a new wilbur, dumbass, i’m already wilbur!” the human said, letting out a fake offended gasp. 

“we’ll see how that goes in the future, old wilbur!” schlatt laughed as he closed will’s potion book and tossed it back to him.

wilbur caught it with ease, careful not to damage any of the pages.

schlatt stood up, walking over the check the fire and add some air to it.

“i’m gonna go check on the boys and make sure they don’t burn the fucking shack down.” schlatt turned around to look at wilbur. “are you gonna be alright?”

“schlatt, i’ll be fine. make sure those boys don’t use any of my potion ingredients.”

“you got it, boss man.” schlatt walked out of wilbur view, and not even a minute went by before schlatt started yelling about using the wrong kind of mushroom.

wilbur sighed knowing his second breakfast would at least be decent compared to his overcooked eggs.

the human turned to look out the window, and saw that it was snowing. there was already a light layer covering the ground, and the storm showed no signs of stopping.

and that was alright.


	11. prequel part 10: the day to end all days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wilbur and schlatt decide to take a day off and go out into the snow with tommy and tubbo.
> 
> things... don’t turn out quite as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD this chapter!! we’re finally catching up to present day, everyone! between moving back home after then end of my semester and the constant rewrites i’ve had to do of this, it’s taken me nearly 10 days to write this chapter. BUT i’m back home now and only have a few assignments left to do and then i can immerse myself into my fics again!
> 
> thank you for all the love on my other fics as well! i might be continuing the small steps fic, but it’ll be a while before i come up with any ideas worth writing :)
> 
> also, i slipped a small unus annus reference in this chapter because i’m still not over that damn channel. i miss the videos, guys :((
> 
> please enjoy, and thank you all for being so patient with me!!

the snow was certainly falling this time around.

schlatt had noticed that the snow was always more persistent a few weeks after the first snowfall. he would often go outside and just stand under the flakes as they fell into his hair and onto his face.

wilbur didn’t like the snow. wilbur was always cold. 

schlatt, however, found himself migrating outside more and more often as the snow kept coming. his favorite moment was one day where the snow was just finishing its onslaught, and all that was left were tiny flurries coming down. the ram hybrid let himself stand and take the chill of each flake bracing his face, allowing himself a moment (or an hour) of peace and vulnerability.

needless to say, schlatt loved the snow.

so when wilbur suggested they take the boys out to go gather supplies and take a little break from the shack, schlatt was ecstatic.

of course, the ram realized this was a bit unusual for wilbur, as he preferred to stay inside, never straying far from a fire and a guitar.

but maybe... this was a sign of growth. that wilbur was healing.

and that was all schlatt needed to grab the boys and some spare coats and hats from the closet.

the trip had started out just fine, sure! wilbur had packed enough to last them for three days in case of any emergencies. 

they were going to be fine. 

yeah. they were.

as the four crossed rivers and specific rocks that indicated they were on the right path, tubbo had been rambling about bee hibernation patterns.

“you know, honey bees actually survive winters by creating their own heat sources! they end up clustering together in the hives, but depending on their honey supply, sometimes only the queen will make it out-“

“the queen makes it out because she is the best and doesn’t have time for any puny men! of course if i were the queen i would just ditch the other bees entirely. i don’t need any men working for me!” tommy cut in, waving a stick around.

this kid and his sticks.

schlatt had been zoning in and out of the conversation, taking in his surroundings. the ice and snow lined the bare trees around them, glinting in the sunlight. 

the boys continued chatter back and forth, as tubbo tried to actually educate the other three and tommy asserting his dominance.

schlatt was just content to be outside with his family.

what.

when did he... when did he consider three of the most annoying people alive to be his family?

since they saved his life. that’s when.

“you alright, schlatt?” 

the ram looked to his right, getting his thought interrupted by wilbur. the man had not one, but two scarves on in order to combat the cold.

“yeah, just thinking about your dumb double scarf thing.” schlatt smirked, tugging on one of them.

“hey! you know i’ll freeze. i bet you secretly like the scarf combo.” wilbur laughed, flipping one side of the scarves dramatically.

“over my dead body, will!” 

the two older men lightly shoved each other before laughing again.

“y’know, will, this is really nice. i’m glad you suggested taking the boys out with us.” schlatt said, looking back up at the trees.

“yeah, i kinda figured we were all getting a little bit of cabin fever. why not make a trip out of it, right?”

“right.” schlatt smiled. the sun was starting to set, and he could feel the temperature dropping. the snow crunched under his footsteps. 

he wanted this moment to last forever. his favorite season, his favorite people.

but it wouldn’t. 

time passes.

memories fade.

something rustled in the trees behind schlatt.

the ram stopped in his tracks and whipped around, frantically searching for the source.

nothing. 

except for the patches of snow falling from the trees.

something was there.

why was there ALWAYS something in the woods?

wilbur, tommy and tubbo had continued walking for a second, too carried away in their own conversations.

wilbur turned to say something to schlatt, and stopped when he saw the ram wasnt right next to him. he turned back to see schlatt frozen in place, his back facing wilbur. 

the human stopped the boys and walked towards to schlatt.

wilbur was about to ask schlatt if everything was okay when a more audible rustle echoed through the trees.

everyone was silent. no one moved.

schlatt turned and grabbed wilburs arm.

“somethings here, will.” schlatt said in a hushed tone, eyes still searching for something.

“schlatt, hey, it’s probably just an animal, it’s going to be fine-“

an arrow whizzed between their heads, sticking out of the ground in front of tommy and tubbo.

both schlatt and wilbur recoiled away from each other and whipped their heads towards the direction the arrow came from.

a figure was squatting on a branch above them, bow loaded with another arrow.

the figure leaned forward into the light, and schlatt could see the frowny face mask glaring at him.

that was definitely a hunter.

fuck.

“you call that fine?!?” schlatt said before grabbing wilburs arm again and running towards the boys.

“let’s go! take cover!” wilbur yelled, making sure tommy and tubbo were within his sight.

another arrow. it missed.

why did this have to happen now? 

the four managed to find some lower ground to hide behind, the natural wall acting as a defense.

schlatt sat down, quickly unzipping his jacket and grabbing his knife with shaky hands. he tried to move up a bit in order to get a glimpse of the archer.

“schlatt, what the fuck are you doing?” tommy whispered in a hiss, his arm shielding tubbo.

wilbur had pressed himself against the ground behind him, clutching his jacket with his eyes clenched shut in a panic.

shit. wilbur probably wouldn’t want to go out in the snow again after this.

“i’m trying to see what we’re working with here! chances are, if there’s one hunter around, there’s more where that came from.” schlatt whispered back, trying not to reveal their location as he analyzed the scene in front of him. he knew what he was talking about. 

sure enough, another hunter appeared under the branch the archer was on. this hunter was holding a sword that looked unusually sharp.

another hunter emerged with a dagger, looking for instructions.

another with an axe.

another.

another.

oh my fucking god.

schlatt sat back down and ran a cold hand through his hair.

“schlatt, how many are there?” someome asked. schlatt couldn’t tell who.

they were outnumbered by a long shot.

“schlatt?” 

they were going to die.

god, no, not like this.

“schlatt!” 

wilburs hand was on his shoulder, the other man just barely gaining his composure.

“what’s it like out there?”

schlatt exhaled.

“not good, will.”

wilbur pursed his lips before turning to the boys, who were looking at them with wide eyes.

tommy was clutching his bow, his knuckles turning white with the force. his other arm was wrapped protectively around tubbo.

the smaller boy was leaning into tommy, unsure about what was going to happen next. he wasn’t a fighter, as tommy was always the one that ran headfirst into a battle.

jesus, how could will and schlatt have dragged these two kids into a war?

how could they have known it would end like this?

wilbur grabbed both of the boys and held them close in his arms. they returned the gesture, gripping wilburs jacket with gloved hands.

“you two need to stick together, alright? no matter what happens...” wilbur looked back at schlatt. “stick together. it’s going to be okay.” 

wilbur wasn’t sure if he was talking to the boys or himself and the ram hybrid he met all those years ago.

schlatt tightened his grip on his dagger and let out a shaky breath. 

“will, we have to go out first. there’s... there’s no point in running.” wilbur visibly paled. “we’re not fast enough, and they all have different weapons. we’ve gotta end this as soon as possible.”

the two older men kept eye contact, their breaths visible in the cold air. they felt a mutual understanding that something was going to happen tonight, and it wasn’t going to be good.

schlatt needed more time. god, he wished he had more time. he wanted to watch the boys bicker and run around the shack. he wanted to sit on the couch by the fire and listen to wilbur’s soft singing as he played the old guitar they found in the shack’s attic. he wanted to hold wilbur like they did when they were younger, after schlatt would wake up from a bad dream and wilbur would just be there, rubbing the back of his head and whispering comforting words into his ear while he cried. he wanted to laugh with wilbur when he messed up a recipe and cry with wilbur when he was having a bad family day. he wanted to pick on tommy for being a child, he wanted to help tubbo plant seeds in their small garden the kid had suggested they make. he wanted to see wilbur smile, feel his presence next to him, merely existing in the moment. he wanted more time. he needed more time.

there was no more time.

everything goes eventually.

he remembered an old phrase nightmare used to mutter as he burned down villages and murdered innocents.

memento mori.

remember death.

time runs out.

schlatt turned to tommy and tubbo. 

“once we go out, run. get as far away from here as possible. i don’t care if it’s the opposite direction. i don’t care if everything goes wrong. you’re both too important to go out like this.”

“what- no, no we can’t, schlatt! we can’t leave you guys here!” tubbo said, grabbing schlatts arm.

“yeah, if you guys are fighting, we can too! you’ll need the support anyways.” tommy lifted his crossbow and gave schlatt a shaky smile.

schlatt pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. he couldn’t send these boys out to fight, not when they were just a bit older than he was when he escaped it all.

“no, tommy i cant-“

“SURPRISE!” the hunter with the sword jumped over the snowy wall and pointed her sword at schlatt.

the ram gasped and recoiled, pushing himself against the wall as far as he could.

the sword was lined up right between his eyes.

the hunters mask was just as ominous as ever, her ponytail swaying from the initial jump over the wall. her armor was black and pristine. they all must have gotten upgrades.

wilbur pushed the boys behind him, muttering “run!” repeatedly to them.

no one moved.

“it’s certainly been a while, little ram!” the hunter said cheerfully. her words didn’t have the same effect as nightmares, but it still gave schlatt the same feelings of terror.

“you’ve evaded us for too long, but now i’ve gotcha! and oooh, look, you’ve got some friends here!” she motioned her sword to wilbur, tommy, and tubbo, who were all staring at her with wide eyes.

“i’m sure nightmare would love some new... guests... to come to his castle and take an extended vacation! how does that sound, everybody?” 

the other hunters whooped and hollered, making their way closer to the four boys.

“and sure, you’re all humans, which would be okay in my book, but you’ve been hiding our little ram from us all this time! now that just isn’t fair, is it?” the hunter cupped schlatts face with one hand, causing the ram to shut his eyes and grimace at the touch.

“now,” the hunter said in a low voice, “you’re all going to suffer under the hands of nightmare forever-“

an arrow grazed her shoulder, causing the hunter to grunt and stumble away from schlatt.

the ram looked over to see tommy still in position, holding his crossbow and panting.

“get away from him, you bitch!” he started to load another arrow.

oh fuck. 

why couldn’t they ever just leave a situation peacefully?

“tommy, what did you do?!?” wilbur yelled, watching the hunter grasp her arm and get back into fighting position.

“ohohoho, you’re going to pay for that, you little gremlin!” she yelled, starting to run towards the four.

“BOYS, GET THEM!” 

the hunters advanced.

in a split second, schlatt jumped up and grabbed tubbo, nearly tossing him out of the reach of the closest hunters. wilbur was back to back with tommy, the former quickly drinking a spare strength potion he had before tossing the glass bottle at the hunter with the sword. she slashed at it with her sword, and the bottle shattered on impact. tommy was shooting wherever he could see, arrows flying past the hunters.

if schlatt tried to recall the next few minutes events, he couldn’t tell you anything. all he knew was that he had his dagger and he started 

slashing

and slashing

and when a hunter grabbed him from behind and raised his axe, schlatt 

slashed

at his neck

and watched his body drop to the ground, his axe making a dent in the snow as the surrounding area started to turn red.

schlatt looked up from the body to see tommy and wilbur separated. tommy had managed to climb up a branch and was engaged with the other archer. neither of them managed to hit the other.

wilbur was dodging the other hunter’s sword strikes, as he was much better at maneuvering than any actual combat. he could hear the hunter swearing under her breath each time she missed him. she was getting tired.

“schlatt!”

the ram froze.

he forgot about tubbo in all of the chaos.

he turned around to see the kid, tears running down his face as the remaining hunter had him in his arms and held a dagger to his neck. tubbo was trying to struggle out of his grasp, kicking at the hunters legs and letting out a sob when the hunter tightened his grip and brought the knife closer to his throat.

dear god.

schlatt tried to move closer before the hunter pointed his dagger at the hybrid.

“don’t come any fucking closer,” the hunter said as he brought the knife back to tubbo’s neck, “or the kid gets it.”

panic crossed tubbos face as he tried to grab the hunters arm to no avail. 

“s-schlatt... please...” the kid was quiet, but the last word came out in a broken sob.

schlatt gripped his bloody dagger tighter, not moving. he had no idea what to do.

if he moved, he wouldn’t be fast enough to grab tubbo before the hunter sliced his neck.

if he didn’t, whos to say the hunter wouldn’t do it anyway?

all he could do is watch as tubbo stared at him, seconds from death.

it can’t end like this.

“you know, i think i remember this kid.” the hunter said, looking down at tubbo. “he was part of a village i personally helped nightmare burn down.” 

tubbo stopped thrashing as he processed the hunters words.

schlatt barely registered the sound of a body hitting the ground behind him. he didn’t look to see who it was. his first priority was tubbo.

no one, out of the three of them, moved. 

“nightmare gave us specific orders to kill everyone, as there was a rumored archangel living in the town. i almost got this one before he slithered away!” the hunter laughed.

schlatt felt rage building up inside of him. but he couldn’t do anything at the expense of tubbo. his tubbo. his little brother.

“schlatt, please, please, i cant- i-“ tubbo gasped out between sobs. one hand reached out to the ram.

“stop fidgeting, kid!” the hunter grasped tubbo tighter, resulting in the boy crying out.

“...let him go.” was all schlatt could say.

“or what?” the hunter laughed. “i’ll kill this stupid kid before you can even reach me!” the blade edged ever closer to tubbos neck. “i might as well make use of my opportunity, because if i don’t do it now, i may never get to again-“

an arrow whizzing through the air, past schlatts head. he flinched and closed his eyes.

a thunk.

a gasp.

a body, falling to the ground.

schlatt opened his eyes to see tubbo standing there, frozen, but free from the hunters grasp. 

there was a small cut on his shoulder where the blade grazed him on the way down.

the hunter was on the ground with an arrow protruding from his chest.

blood was starting to mix with the snow.

schlatt turned around to see tommy, still in the trees, still in position. 

the archer was on the ground with an arrow in his neck.

schlatt smiled at tommy, who simply nodded back.

the ram then turned and ran to tubbo, grabbing him and falling to his knees.

tubbo clutched onto schlatt and buried his face into his neck, letting all of his weight be supported by the ram hybrid.

the kid was still crying, shaking in schlatts arms.

“i’ve got you, tubbo. okay? i’ve got you. i swear, this will never happen again. i promise. i’m so sorry.” schlatt whispered, rubbing tubbos back.

the boy couldn’t do anything but nod, refusing to let go.

was it all okay? 

it was...

wait.

where was-

“WILBUR!” tommy yelled.

schlatt gasped and looked up, trying to find wilbur and make sure he was okay.

through all of this, the boy in the beanie managed to fend off the hunter with the sword.

and they were still going at it, the hunter pivoting and swiping at wilbur while the boy dodged and weaved around her, trying to get behind her and trip her up.

both were panting, and schlatt could see that they were running out of energy.

he kept tubbo in his arms as he watched.

they seemed to go at it for another few minutes, while schlatt wasn’t sure if he should intervene or not.

wilbur took a wrong step, stumbling and slowing his pace.

from this angle, schlatt could see the hunter smile under her mask.

oh fuck.

he should have intervened.

in that second, the hunter managed to reach wilbur, grab his shoulder, draw her sword back,

and send it 

straight

through 

his

stomach.

no.

no.

no!

no no no

no no no no nononononononnoNONONONONONONONO!

schlatt wasn’t sure if the screams around him were coming out of tommy, tubbo, or his own mouth.

maybe all of them.

the hunter pulled her sword out of wilbur, and he promptly fell to the ground.

the hunter stared at wilburs body for a second before turning and running off, not bothering to check if the rest of her crew were still alive.

they weren’t.

schlatt took his cue to let go of tubbo and sprint faster than he ever thought he could to reach wilbur.

he could hear the boys reaching each other behind him and follow schlatt, but it felt like they were miles away.

all that mattered right now was wilbur.

schlatt dropped to his knees and grabbed his brother, holding his head up gently.

wilbur looked fucking awful.

his eyes were screwed shut, there were bruises all over the visible parts of his face and the bags under his eyes seemed to be darker than usual.

oh, and that’s not even mentioning the gaping wound in his stomach.

the snow was falling again.

when did that start?

schlatt didn’t know, but when he looked up he could see frost nipping at wilburs face, snowflakes delicately landing on his hair. 

he almost looked at peace, if not for the fact that he was currently bleeding out.

“fuck, fuck, shit, wilbur, shit, fuck-“ schlatt stammered out, his hands ghosting the wound as he tried to figure out some way, any way, to help his brother stay alive.

sometime during it all. tommy and tubbo had both approached the scene and were completely silent.

tubbo was still crying.

tommy was shaking, trying to reach out to wilbur.

schlatt eyed wilburs satchel, and ripped it open to find some sort of healing potion, anything that could fix this.

how the FUCK was it empty?

of all the times wilbur had to be a fucking idiot and leave the potions at home...

of course it had to be this time.

“FUCK!” schlatt yelled as he threw wilburs bag back down and grabbed his hair in frustration.

warmth was falling down schlatts cold face.

he was crying again.

“wilbur, wilbur, will, please-“ he cupped his brothers face as he felt wilburs ragged breaths. 

please, please, it cant end like this for any of them. it shouldn’t have to be like this, it CANT be like this! please, god, please-

“we should- we should sit him up, s-schlatt.”

the ram looked over at tubbo, whos voice broke through schlatts thoughts.

the kid was still looking at wilbur.

“he could... he could probably breathe better.”

oh. that... that could work.

“...okay. will?” schlatt hoped his brother would respond.

nothing.

schlatt spoke to him anyway.

“alright, w-wilbur, i’m gonna have to move you. it’s probably gonna hurt... so, um, i’m... im sorry.”

schlatt carefully slid his arm under wilburs legs, then the other supporting his back.

he started to move.

wilburs breath hitched.

schlatt froze for a second, then continued up. 

every small movement schlatt made, he could hear wilbur let out a small cry or inhale sharply. every time, schlatt would apologize and keep moving. the boys followed behind him, holding each other close.

he couldn’t imagine what wilbur was feeling right now.

that is, if he was even conscious.

schlatt carefully set wilbur upright against the nearest tree, before backing away to make sure everything was alright.

blood was soaking schlatts clothes. it was on his hands. 

wilburs blood was on his hands.

schlatt got up close to his brother to make sure he was still breathing. after a second, he could hear a soft inhale, then a shaky exhale.

schlatt sighed before putting some pressure on wilburs wound, tears still falling down his face.

he couldn’t move wilbur much without hurting him more.

wilbur was going to die.

“wilbur, wilbur, please- please stay with me, will. please, i need you here, please!” schlatt pleaded with the man, and only cried harder when he received no response.

more blood, coating his hands, covering him, drowning him in it-

the panic schlatt felt was nothing like he’d ever felt before.

not when his village burnt to the ground, not when he was captured by nightmare, not when the man himself broke his horn.

the tears never ceased.

his best friend, his brother, wilbur.

the boy who meant everything to schlatt.

he was dying.

he was dying, and there was nothing that schlatt could fucking do about it.

he couldn’t prolong the inevitable anymore.

fuck.

schlatt put his forehead on wilburs, not caring that his tears soaked into wilburs already stained clothes.

he never took his hands off the wound.

“i’m sorry, i’m so, so sorry, wilbur...

please stay.

you promised... you were never going to leave me! don’t- don’t you remember? you said it was you and me!”

...

no response.

no response but the soft inhale and shaky exhale of a dying boy.

schlatt pulled his head away from his brother.

“you said- you promised me, wilbur.”

schlatts voice was broken and raw. he looked down at the wound that he was trying so hard to stop from bleeding.

it had only gotten worse.

wilbur was getting more and more pale as the seconds went on.

this wasn’t fair.

none of this was fucking fair!

the snow started to pick up a bit as more and more flakes fell down around them.

and schlatt was starting to see why wilbur didn’t like snow.

god, why couldn’t it all stop? the bleeding, the snow, schlatts tears-

he had never felt more overwhelmed.

a soft hand fell on his shoulder. tubbo was there, eyes and nose red and raw.

“schlatt, can i... can i try something?”

schlatt was confused, to say the very least. what more...

what more could they do?

but schlatt knew tubbo was resourceful and creative and endearing and kind. 

so the ram exhaled, took his bloodied hands off of wilbur, and let tubbo have his space.

tommy moved back as well, leaning onto schlatt. the hybrid placed his hand on top of the boys head. neither of them noticed the blood getting into tommy’s hair.

it wouldn’t matter anyway.

the boy in green immediately moved in front of wilbur, placing his hands over the wound.

“now, i’m not sure if this will work, but i reckon it’s worth a shot.” tubbo said more to himself than anyone else.

“okay, wilbur, let me try this...”

tubbo trailed off and closed his eyes, summoning his yellow to his hands. 

schlatt waited for something to happen, and was starting to panic when all he was greeted with was more snow.

“tubbo-“

“wait, schlatt.” tommy said next to him in a hushed tone. “let him do his thing.”

schlatt didnt respond, but hoped that whatever tubbo was doing, he’d do it fast.

just then, a yellow glow wrapped around the boys hands.

schlatt gasped. since when could tubbo do magic?

he figured that question didn’t matter now. he’d have to ask tubbo about it later. 

tubbos magic started to extend towards wilburs wound, and schlatt watched as the wound started to close.

wh- how the hell?

it was another two minutes before the wound was fully closed. the ram hybrid watched the entire time, not wanting to take his eyes off of will in case something went wrong.

suddenly, tubbo took his hands off the wound, and all that was left was raw scar tissue. the bleeding had ceased.

wilbur... was still alive!

tubbo opened his eyes, and tried to stand back up before stumbling a bit. tommy ran to catch him, giving him a few words of encouragement as he let tubbo lean on him.

schlatt smiled for what felt like the first time in years and ran forward to wilbur.

he had no idea what the fuck just happened, but he couldn’t question anything now.

his brother was alive.

wilbur was alive. 

he was still breathing, although it was weak. his face was no longer scrunched up in pain.

it looked like he was sleeping peacefully.

schlatt laughed nervously and put his forehead on wilburs, leaning into the touch.

if only that were the case.

schlatt wordlessly, carefully, picked wilbur up and made sure the boys were okay before starting to head back the way they came. tommy was still supporting tubbo as they walked.

hours passed, as the group got slower with every step.

wilbur was getting heavier in schlatts arms, and he could hear tommy panting behind him.

but they had to get back.

they needed to.

by the time the shack was in schlatts view, he nearly cried again. 

he was surprised the sun hadn’t rose yet.

“t-tommy, we’re here.” schlatt turned around to see the boy basically dragging tubbo along, his breaths visible in the cold air.

“a few more steps, okay? then you can go to bed.” they continued on.

“someone... someone has to watch w-will.” tommy said after a few beats.

“i’ll take first watch. i know how the healing potions work, and i’ll have to patch you both up as well.” schlatt said as he reached the old porch. he walked up the stairs and struggled with the doorknob for a second before basically kicking the door in. he knew tommy wouldn’t last five minutes before passing out from exhaustion. schlatt, however, was still reeling from the adrenaline, despite the long trek home.

“no... schlatt, you need to sleep!” tommy brought tubbo inside before gently laying him down onto the bed. schlatt did the same with wilbur. “i can watch wilbur, it’ll be okay.”

schlatt went to go fix himself a cup of coffee. he wasn’t about to let this kid damage himself more. tommy followed him into the kitchen.

“tommy... please don’t argue with me right now. i’m going to be fine, and you clearly won’t be if you stay up any longer!” the hybrid said as he put a pan of water on the stove. he still had his eyes on wilbur, whos bedroom could be seen from the kitchen. the only reason he wasn’t all over his brother yet was because he knew his wound wasn’t fatal anymore.

“no, no!” tommy yelled, placing his hands on his head. “if i was watching wilbur more, if i was faster... i could’ve prevented this, schlatt.” the boy looked up to the ram, tears forming in his eyes.

schlatt let go of the pot, immediately wrapping tommy in a hug. the younger waited a second before returning it. his hands grasped schlatts jacket, clinging on for dear life.

“look, kid... neither of us could’ve predicted what happened tonight. i’m so, so sorry that we dragged you out there.” schlatt pulled away from tommy and placed his hands on the youngers shoulders.

“but you have to know that this wasn’t your fault, okay? this wasn’t your fault. and i know you’re strong, and you’re resilient, but you’re not in any condition to be watching over wilbur right now. i want you to go to bed, okay, tommy? rest, recover, and then tomorrow you can help if wilbur doesn’t wake up.”

tommy stared at schlatt, tears still falling. they were doing a lot of that tonight.

“alright, s-schlatt. but wake me up immediately if anything happens.” tommy said, looking away from the ram.

“i’ll make sure to do that.” schlatt pulled tommy in for another hug before pulling apart, wiping his tears, and sending him to bed.

schlatt watched tommy curl up next to tubbo, who had been unconscious for some time, and slowly fall asleep.

the ram sipped his coffee as he looked over the boys, and made a mental note to look at the gash at tubbos shoulder as soon as he could. he didnt want that getting infected.

first, he had to check wilbur for any other injuries he missed. 

schlatt pulled a chair from the kitchen into will’s bedroom and sat in it. 

he grabbed wilburs hand and held it, rubbing his thumb over will’s fingers.

schlatt allowed himself just a moment of silence. a moment of just him and wilbur. 

just two brothers.

one closer to death than the other had ever seen, and the other just barely holding on to his own sanity.

schlatt looked at wilburs bruised face and saw the boy he met in the woods all those years ago. they were so young, and already so wounded by what life threw at them.

neither of them could have predicted this.

and even then, even through all of this...

schlatt was glad that wilbur stood by him for all of it.

and now?

now, it was time for schlatt to stand by wilbur.

he let go of wilburs hand, got up, and walked toward the potion room. 

it was going to be a long night.

time to get to work.


	12. interlude i: the dying boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the boy bleeds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so so sorry for the wide ass gap between updates! my semester is fully over but i’m back at work so that’s taken up a bunch of my time,,, but i’ve finally finished a new chapter for you.
> 
> welcome to the interlude series! these chapters will be the small events that lead up to the events in the first chapter. you all still have yet to know how techno and phil met schlatt and the boys,,, so maybe that will be soon ;)))

the world was a cruel, cruel place.

wilbur made sure he understood that when the hunters separated him from his brother and father.

when they came back and broke his new brothers horn.

when he got less and less sleep throughout the years.

still, he had to admit he was a bit surprised when the hunter shoved her sword through his stomach, leaving him to die.

but really, what did he expect when he showed up to a fight with nothing but a single strength potion?

well, that wasn’t true. the fight had come to him.

but it still didn’t excuse how unprepared he was for it all.

he should’ve had a sword... something to protect him and his brothers. but he didn’t have anything, and he was definitely paying the price.

he had learned to fight at a young age, and mainly resorted to defensive tactics. techno always took the offense and managed to beat the shit out of him with his wooden swords. but wilbur was always learning and studying his brothers methods and beat him once or twice simply by tiring him out.

it was what gave him the advantage against the hunter that was slicing at him. wilbur knew she was one of the strongest, and wanted to keep her away from the boys. who knows what she could’ve done to tubbo, who as far as wilbur knew, wasn’t experienced in any combat.

wilbur wanted to keep it that way. these boys wouldn’t be forced into fighting for their lives anymore than they already had if he had to say anything about it.

unfortunately, the fight had followed them into the woods, and wilbur was once again gasping for air as the sword was plunged through his body.

as he stood there, shock flying through his body, wilbur could barely register schlatt screaming over the ringing in his ears. he wanted to run to the ram and make sure everything was okay.

of course, wilbur thought to himself as the hunter pulled her sword out of him. of course he would be thinking about schlatt instead of the gaping wound in his body.

he nearly chuckled as he fell to the ground, his head hitting the ground hard. that’ll be a bad headache when he wakes up.

if he wakes up.

wilbur closed his eyes and decided to focus on the snow beneath him. he could hear footsteps, boots crunching the snow as they came towards him. 

god, wilbur hated the cold. 

he only hated it more now that it caused him to be a second from death.

he could hear voices that he couldn’t decipher, but wilbur knew they sounded desperate. 

was it schlatt?

he couldn’t open his eyes to find out.

instead, wilbur tried to feel. feel anything.

why was it all so numb? was he in shock-

something grazed his wound. a hand, maybe? it didn’t matter, because soon all wilbur felt was pain pain pain pain-

well. the shock wore off.

fuck. fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

he felt like every muscle was on fire. the ringing in his ears got louder. wilbur wanted to scream, and scream, and scream until it all went away.

he couldn’t hear! he couldn’t see! what the fuck was going on-

everything suddenly snapped into place.

wilbur was suddenly aware of every movement, every sound, every feeling around him. it was a shame that he couldn’t fucking open his eyes to see what the hell was going on.

he was wet. he was sticky. what the fuck was all over his clothes-

blood.

shit.

it was snowing. will could feel frozen droplets falling onto his face. he wanted to wipe them away, but there was no use in moving.

he could hear- he could hear schlatt.

“-bur, wilbur, will, please-“

soft hands grazed his face. he knew they were the hybrids.

oh, how badly wilbur wanted to just sit up and hold his brother, tell him that it was fine, he’s fine, it’s okay! there’s nothing wrong, it’s all fine.

it wasn’t fine.

wilbur was going to die. he was going to-

FUCK!

there were hands shoving themselves under him, hands grasping his back and his legs and tearing his wound open from the inside out-

wilbur could pick up small apologies from someones mouth as they lifted him up, barely being registered as the boy unwillingly cried out.

who was it? 

doesn’t matter.

wilbur drifted. he drifted in and out, floating one second and being stabbed again the next. 

it took him what felt like ages to register that he was now sitting up, body resting against rough tree bark.

something was in front of him, placing their hands on his wound. the hands were warm, and wilbur relished in the contrast in temperature versus the dry air and snow falling onto his face.

how was he still fucking alive? how did this happen? why couldnt he just die-

“-mised... you were never going to leave me! don’t- don’t you remember? you said it was-“

who was talking? what the hell was going on? who...

who was he?

“-ou promised me, wilbur.”

wilbur. that was his name. that was the name of the boy that was found by an archangel, the boy who loved his family more than anything, the boy who was bleeding out against a tree in the middle of fucking nowhere. 

the warmth separated itself from wilbur, causing him to want to reach out and bring it back. of course, he couldn’t move even if he tried.

he hated this. he hated feeling helpless, he hated feeling cold, he wished he knew what the fuck was going on-

a new warmth made its way to wilburs stomach. 

it stayed stagnant for a few seconds before igniting and getting hotter.

oh wow.

the warmth reached through his veins, up his arms and into his head.

all wilbur could see was yellow, yellow, yellow.

it swirled around his brain and eased his discomfort.

slowly, but surely, wilbur felt himself getting stitched back together. it was pure bliss, this feeling of yellow. it reminded him of days long gone, where a winged man would hold him and heal his scrapes and cuts after a fight with his brother.

it felt like...

it felt like home.

it felt like phil.

the yellow called to him. 

what was it saying?

it didn’t matter. 

wilbur accepted to yellow with everything he had, and he let it guide him to unconsciousness.

maybe then he wouldn’t be so cold.

maybe the world would be okay for a little while if wilbur just had some time to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> swag

**Author's Note:**

> this is a weird au. i spend all this time making up stories in my head and this time i actually decided to write it all down.  
> enjoy? idk how this site works. leave a comment or something.


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